Johnny Cash

Born to cotton farmers in Kingsland, Arkansas, Cash grew up on gospel music and spent four years in the Air Force, much of it in West Germany. He rose to fame in the mid-1950s Memphis rockabilly scene, his deep voice and the Tennessee Three's train-like guitar rhythms cutting a path through I Walk the Line, Folsom Prison Blues, and Ring of Fire. He wore all black, played free prison concerts, and married June Carter after their duet Jackson. The rebelliousness softened into something more somber over time. In his final years he covered Hurt, Rusty Cage, and Personal Jesus - rock songs that fit the ache he'd always carried. He sold over 90 million records, landed in three Halls of Fame, and died in September 2003, six months after the biopic Walk the Line would eventually tell it.