“Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”
It wasn’t always fame and fortune for Johnny Cash. He came from extremely humble and poor beginnings. His parents were poor cotton farmers in Arkansas.
So, Cash was your normal, everyday teenager — except for the fact that he was writing and singing songs starting at the age of 12.
After graduating high school in 1950, Cash enlisted into the Air Force, where he spent four years of his life. After leaving the Air Force, with an honorable discharge, he married his first wife, Vivian, and they moved to Memphis, Tenn.
Still, Cash was searching for his piece of the pie in music, selling appliances until that day came. Fortunately, in the mid 1950s, he recorded some songs with the owner of Sun Records, Sam Phillips, at Sun Studios in Memphis. It paid off handsomely.
Throughout his career, Cash (1932-2003) became widely known for his concerts at prisons, which began in the late 1950s. He became so popular at one point, he sold more albums than the Beatles did!
He became the youngest living inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980. He died in 2003, but his work and his legacy will live on forever. His career and library of work, both on screen and in music, have made him become the icon that he is today.
22 Pictures of Johnny Cash When He Was Young
Johnny Cash got his musical start in Memphis, Tenn., in the mid 1950s. He bravely walked into Sun Records and auditioned for Sam Phillips. Eventually, Cash was able to record a couple songs there and get a record deal, and the rest is history. Take a look back with 22 photos of Johnny Cash when he was young.
Gallery Credit: Evan Paul
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The Billboard Country Airplay chart comes out weekly, and it lists the 60 most-listened-to songs played on 150+ country radio stations nationwide. These are the 27 country songs that have had the most weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.
Gallery Credit: Evan Paul