Happy Birthday Johnny Cash 80 years "Man in Black"

 

80 years "Man in Black"

With songs like "Walk the Line," "Folsom Prison" and "Hurt" Johnny Cash influenced several generations. He struggled with his drug addiction - and came back. Despite pain and respiratory problems took cash shortly before his death in 2003, to new songs on - today, he would have turned 80 years old.

By Julia Hummelsiep, HR radio studio in Washington

The "man in black" - Johnny Cash at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. (Undated picture)"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash" - that was his trademark greeting. From his first appearance until the last, this was always the first thing that stopped him from his fans. She was exactly like his trademark black clothes only at his concerts.

1955 started the story of the legendary Johnny Cash, he told himself on one of his last concerts. It is a story of musical success and personal crash. Cash was a drug addict in the 1960s - clean it later.And he witnessed as a 62-year-old musically impressive comeback.

With the guitar in the living room of the producer

"It has been just like in the 1950s, this excitement. I had freedom to make music just as I wanted," Johnny Cash said in an interview with Dutch television.That was in 1996, two years after the release of their first album in the series "American Recordings".

The young hip-hop and metal producer Rick Rubin got cash to his label. "We do what you want. I want to get the best out of you," Rubin said to have said at the time of cash. Then they made the deal. "I sat with my guitar with him in the living room and my list of 200 songs was played down. And we have taken," said Cash. From the first album was Cash's legacy. The six-part series "American Recordings" presents his own songs, but also numerous cover versions - such as U2, Tom Petty and Depeche Mode.

"Hurt" - the best music video ever

Cash managed an impressive comeback"I have taken so many songs from different genres, and have made ​​it my own songs," Cash said. Sun 2002, he covered the song "Hurt," originally played by the industrial rock band "Nine Inch Nails". For the accompanying music video in 2004 there was a Grammy last year and has named it the British music magazine "New Musical Express" even the best video of all time.

Diabetes, respiratory problems, brittle voice

That did not live to Johnny Cash. He died on 12 September 2003 to the consequences of his diabetes. In his recent interview with MTV presenter Kurt Loder Cash said when asked if he was afraid of death: "I think my life is almost over I am 71 years old.." That was three weeks before his death.

Until recently he took for his "American Recordings" - although he carried his illness for many years suffered from respiratory problems, such as Cash told in a 2002 interview with U.S. talk show host Larry King. Previously he had made the sound more right away, it was different now, so cash. He now had to work hard on the recordings. His unique voice was failing in his last years, but still he sang till the end. Also his, as Cash himself said, the biggest hit, "Walk the Line."

Johnny Cash (1932 - 2003)_