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Country Singer Johnny Cash Dies at 71
NEW YORK - Johnny Cash (news),
a towering figure in American music spanning country, rock and folk and
known worldwide as "The Man in Black," has died, according to hospital
officials in Nashville, Tenn. He was 71.
"Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in
respiratory failure," said Cash's manager, Lou Robin, in a press release
issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville.
The release said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT. He was
released from Baptist on Wednesday where he had spent two weeks being
treated for an unspecified stomach ailment.
"I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the Cash family
to find comfort during this very difficult time," Robin said.
Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic neuropathy,
and pneumonia in recent years and was once diagnosed with a disease called
Shy-Drager's syndrome, a diagnosis that was later deemed to be erroneous.
Dozens of hit records like "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line,"
and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" defined Cash's persona: a haunted,
dignified, resilient spokesman for the working man and downtrodden.
Cash's deeply lined face fit well with his unsteady voice, which was
limited in range but used to great effect to sing about prisoners,
heartaches, and tales of everyday life. He wrote much of his own material,
and was among the first to record the songs of Bob Dylan (news)
and Kris Kristofferson (news).
"One Piece at a Time" was about an assembly line worker who built a car
out of parts stolen from his factory. "A Boy Named Sue" was a comical
story of a father who gives his son a girl's name to make him tough. "The
Ballad of Ira Hayes" told of the drunken death of an American Indian
soldier who helped raised the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War
II, but returned to harsh racism in America.
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