Johnny Cash "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." "Man in Black" "Ring of Fire" He was called the "Man in Black," Who opened his concerts with the friendly, modest greeting, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." "Man in Black" "Ring of Fire" "I Walk the Line" Speakers on? Sound will begin on next slide. "I'd like to wear a rainbow every day, and tell the world that everything is okay. But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back. Until things are brighter, I'm the Man in Black." Johnny Cash Use mouse or space bar to advance slides

Man in black Country star Johnny Cash, who died at the age of 71, was born in Arkansas, and began singing while still in high school. While in the air force during the Korean War he bought a guitar and taught himself to play. He signed his first record deal with Sun Records in 1955, joining the same label as Elvis Presley.

Walking the line Cash scored his first US hit with I Walk the Line in 1956, introducing the world to his deep, gravelly voice. He made his debut at Nashville’s famous Grand Old Opry, which has played host to some of country music’s biggest stars, the following year.

She died in May 2003 after suffering complications from heart surgery. Married life In 1968, he married June Carter, an established country singer, after spending years working together. June co-wrote Cash’s biggest hit Ring of Fire, and the couple performed together for more than 40 years, winning two Grammy's for their duets. She died in May 2003 after suffering complications from heart surgery.

Troubled times Cash admitted that for many years he struggled with amphetamine abuse, crediting his wife June with pulling him through. "June said she knew me - knew the kernel of me, deep inside, beneath the drugs and deceit and despair and anger and selfishness, and knew my loneliness," he wrote in his autobiography.

Walk of fame Cash was joined by June Carter, and son John, who was six at the time, at the dedication of a star honouring him in the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on 10 March, 1976.

Rubbing shoulders Cash was honoured by President George Bush at the National Endowments of the Arts National Medal of Arts Awards in 2003. The award was for his contributions to the music and entertainment industry, and for his remarkable musical innovations that drew from folk, country and rock and roll styles.

Family ties The Cash family shared a love of music. Daughter Rosanne is a folk country singer in her own right, while son John produced his mother’s final album Wildwood Flower. Left to right - John Carter, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash and Rosanne Cash.

Cash revival Cash was discovered by a new generation of fans with his series of American Recordings albums, which covered modern artists including Depeche Mode and Nick Cave. He won an MTV Video Music Award in 2003 for the video of his cover of Nine Inch Nails’ Hurt track, but he was too ill to attend the ceremony.

He died just months after the death of June Carter Cash. Final days Johnny Cash had been in and out of hospital in recent years, suffering diabetes and various respiratory illnesses. He died just months after the death of June Carter Cash. Although the legendary singer has passed away, his enduring career and distinctive sound will guarantee he is not forgotten.

For over 50 years Johnny Cash wrote and sang about the lives of hard-scrabble farmers, homeless drifters, broken-down cowhands, broken-hearted lovers and men behind bars. He gave a voice to the lonesome and the lost, the dispossessed and the disillusioned. He came by this sympathy naturally, growing up on his family's cotton farm in rural Arkansas in the depths of the Depression. America first discovered Johnny Cash in the mid-1950s and since then people around the world have heard in his voice an unmistakable honesty about the hard facts of life, love and faith. Johnny Cash and his songs have become an institution in our national life. Thanks to his recordings, the Man in Black with the cavernous baritone voice will remain as much a part of the American scene as the Mississippi River or the Rocky Mountains. John Cash was a proud man, a straight shooter, a hard working southern gentleman, who treated everyone he knew as family. He honestly lived his music, his religion and his iconic notoriety, maintaining his own style, artistic integrity and dignity. He continued to be strong willed and artistically relevant to the very end, whether forging through the maze of the music business, battling with personal health, or dealing with personal tragedy. Johnny Cash was a patriot. An artist. A wanderer. A family man. An iconic cornerstone of American music. John dreamed music, always seemed to have a song in his head, a joke to tell and find time for a kind word for his fellow man.

It was a sad day in Tennessee, but a great day in Heaven! Singer, legend, model, icon Johnny Cash, one of country music’s most enduring stars died Friday, September 12, 2003 at the age of 71. Cash died in hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. His family was with him when he died. He was indeed a towering figure in music history! It was a sad day in Tennessee, but a great day in Heaven! The 'Man in Black' is now wearing white as he joins his wife June in the angel band.

Johnny's wife, June Carter Cash, wife of 35 years, with whom he recorded many songs, died following complications from heart surgery. June died May 15, 2003. The Cash family released statements, saying they were “greatly comforted by the outpouring of love and respect for his wonderful life.” “We also take solace in the knowledge that he is again reunited with his dearest companion, June. Our lives and indeed the entire planet will forever feel the emptiness of his loss, but his music and the greatness of his spirit will endure.”

Cash became an icon of American country music from the 1950s and on, singing in a gruff, baritone voice, he went on to have hit after hit. Cash had a somber image, but his songs, and trademark hits were also full of fun and comedy. In "One Piece at a Time," he sang from the point of view of an auto assembly line worker who smuggled parts to make his own car -- one that had pieces of a " '51, '52, '53, '54" and on through the years. Another one of several examples is a "A Boy Named Sue," which Cash took to No. 2 in 1969, was about a man who grew up hating his father because of his feminine name. But, whether singing about outlaws of the Old West, murder and prison, unrequited love or simple pleasures, Cash sang in an unadorned, frank baritone about the plight of the common citizen. His was the voice of truth. "My roots are in the working man," Cash told the Music City News in 1987. "I can remember very well how it is to pick cotton 10 hours a day, or to plow, or how to cut wood. I remember it so well because I don't intend to ever try to do it again."   Perhaps the most widely recognized voice in country music, Cash recorded more than 1,500 songs. Some of JOHNNY CASH'S GREATEST HITS 1956 - I Walk the Line, his first US chart single. 1963 - Ring of Fire, written with wife June, and one of his best-loved songs. 1968 - Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison, seen by many as his best album, a live album recorded at a jail concert. 1969 - A Boy Named Sue, got to number two and won a Grammy. 1994 - American Recordings album helped him to a successful comeback. 2003 - Hurt, a cover of a Nine Inch Nails track, will be remembered as his swansong. Cash was regarded as one of the most important figures in country music, with a career that spanned six decades. He become as famous for his image as an outlaw figure, for playing in prisons and creating the myth of the Man in Black, his semi-official nickname. His face was aged by illness and time, had the deep lines and somber mien of an Old Testament prophet; for several years, he had struggled with autonomic neuropathy, a diabetes-related disorder, (Shy-Drager) that attacks the nervous system and affects muscle control, a condition similar to Parkinson's disease, after complications from his illnesses, this resulted in respiratory failure at the time of his death. Johnny Cash used to perform more than 200 times a year. Prior to his death he rarely appeared in public at all, though he had hoped to perform again soon.

In the mid 60s, he met June, from country music's famous Carter family In the mid 60s, he met June, from country music's famous Carter family. She co-wrote "Ring of Fire" about their early attraction; Cash made it his own, giving him a top ten hit. The pair married in 1968. He became a born-again Christian with his marriage to June, but health problems had dogged him, as he grew older. Cash started making a comeback. By the end of the '60s, he owned the voice of country music. In the fall of 1969, he was considered by many to be the hottest act in the world, even outselling the Beatles. That year, his work accounted for 5 percent of all record sales in the U.S. "The Johnny Cash Show" aired on ABC from 1969 to 1971 and featured guests as diverse as Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard, Joni Mitchell and Louis Armstrong, to name a few. In the 1970s, Cash continued to record, although his work became more progressive and less commercial. Having never given up his fondness for gospel music, Cash co-wrote and produced a film based on the life of Jesus. "The Gospel Road" was released in 1973, with Cash providing narration and Carter in the role of Mary Magdelene. Cash's 1975 autobiography, also called "Man in Black," sold 1.3 million copies. In 1980, at 48, Cash became the Country Music Hall of Fame's youngest living inductee. He was part of the highly successful Highwaymen quartet with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. When drug problems returned with the use of pain killers, Cash entered the Betty Ford Clinic. Fame, he said in 1988, "was hard to handle. That's why I turned to pills." Cash's parents took advantage of a New Deal farm program, moving their large family to Dyess Colony in northeast Arkansas. A child of the depression, J.R. Cash was born February 26, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas. He was a poor sharecropper's son, who sang to himself while farming\picking cotton in the fields during the day, and singing hymns on the porch at night -- then later sang to millions through recordings, concerts and his late-'60s TV variety show. He started writing songs at the age of 12, influenced by country music on the radio. When he was 12, his 14-year-old brother, Jack, died after an accident. Cash acknowledged the death had a profound impact on his music, and he noted it may have been one reason for his music's melancholy tinge.   In 1957, he became the first artist to release a full album on the influential Sun record label, beating Elvis Presley. Living and working at a hectic pace, with his grueling schedule led Cash to become addicted and became dependent to amphetamines. They took a toll on his career and his drug abuse led to the collapse of his first marriage to wife Vivian Liberto, in 1966. By 1967, Cash had overcome his addiction with the help of his singing partner, June Carter.

He finished touring in 1997, but continued recording albums. During his career, Cash won 11 Grammy Awards, most recently a Best Male Country Vocal Performance for Give My Love To Rose. His 11 Grammy’s included a lifetime achievement award and the 1998 Grammy for country album of the year ("Unchained"). It's said that more than 100 other recording artists and groups have recorded "I Walk the Line."   He finished touring in 1997, but continued recording albums. And he found popularity with a new generation of fans with his series of American Recordings albums, on which he covered modern artists. They included versions of Depeche Mode's Personal Jesus, U2's One, and Cave's The Mercy Seat, and were recorded across four albums. In 2003, the video for his cover of Hurt by hard rock band Nine Inch Nails received critical acclaim and six nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards. Johnny Cash was not only a giant in the business, but he was one of those guys who had grown to become a cultural icon in America. Ed Benson, executive director of the Country Music Association, told WTVF-TV in Nashville. "People associated him with values that I think they held near and dear to their hearts." Deeply saddened by the loss "Big John... Johnny Cash will stand forever as a symbol of intelligence, creativity, compassion and common sense." Sources from: CNN, BBC – with contributions from Associated Press, and “The Man in Black” biography.

He was more than wise, and Cash was likened to an oak tree in a garden of weeds. His influence spread over many generations of different people. He was loved as a person, a singer and a writer. He had such a wealth of experience in his voice, heaven and hell and no-one could touch him. Cash is survived by his children, Rosanne, Kathleen, Cindy, Tara and John Carter.

Hope you enjoyed the show ! Click here to repeat show. Click here to end show. Slide show by Miriam Click here to listen: then when at the URL click the button to stream or download the song. "Far Side Banks of Jordan“ Sung by: Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash “In honor of John & June Carter Cash "God rest your souls on the far banks of Jordan"