The Man in Black is finally silenced

AFTER decades of speaking out for the voiceless in society, the Man in Black has finally been silenced.

Johnny Cash, a towering figure in American music spanning country, rock and folk died yesterday in hospital at the age of 71.

Hospital officials in Nashville, Tennessee, said he died of respiratory complications from diabetes.

Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years.

Dozens of hits like Folsom Prison Blues, I Walk the Line and The Man in Black defined Cash's persona; a haunted, dignified, resilient spokesman for the downtrodden.

His deeply lined face fitted well with his rough voice which, though limited in range, was used to great effect to sing ordinary tales of everyday life. He wrote much of his own material, and was among the first to record the songs of Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson..

Cash said in his 1997 autobiography, Cash, that he tried to speak for 'voices that were ignored or even suppressed in the entertainment media, not to mention the political and educational establishments'.

Cash's career spanned generations; each finding value in his simple records, that often employed his trademark 'boom-chicka-boom' rhythm.

Because of Cash's frequent performances in prisons and rowdy lifestyle early in his career, many people wrongly thought he had served prison time.

He battled addictions to pills on and off throughout his life, blaming fame for his vulnerability.

Cash told the Letterman Show that at the time "the only person that would talk to me was the Lord, and the only woman that would have me was Betty Ford".

Cash was a peer of Elvis Presley when rock'n roll was born in Memphis in the 1950s, and jammed with him, along with Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis in what was probably the world first supergroup. He had a long-time friendship, and recorded with, Dylan, who has cited Cash as a major influence.

He won numerous Country Music Association awards and 11 Grammys most recently in 2003, when he was nominated for six and Give My Love To Rose earned him best male country vocal performance.

He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

His second wife, June Carter Cash, and daughter Roseanne Cash also were successful singers. June Carter Cash, who co-wrote Cash's hit Ring of Fire and partnered him on stage and in studio, died in May.

The late 1960s and '70s were Cash's peak commercial years, and he was host of his own TV variety show from 1969-71. In later years, he was part of the Highwaymen supergroup with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kristofferson.

In the 1990s, he found a new artistic life recording with rap and hard rock producer Rick Rubin on the label American Recordings. He was back in the charts with the 2002 album American IV: the Man Comes Around.

In his 1971 hit, Man in Black, Cash said his black clothing symbolised the downtrodden people in the world. He Cash had been The Man in Black since he joined the Grand Ole Opry at age 25.

"Everybody was wearing rhinestones, all those sparkle clothes and cowboy boots," he said in 1986. "I decided to wear a black shirt and pants and see if I could get by with it. I did and I've worn black clothes ever since."

The original outlaw Johnny Cash transcends all musical boundaries, and is one of the original outlaws.

Willie Nelson

Johnny Cash has always been larger than life.

Kris Kristofferson

Locusts and honey... not since John The Baptist has there been a voice like that crying in the wilderness. Every man knows he is a sissy compared to Johnny Cash.

Bono

John Cash is an American original, uncompromised in his craft and incomparable in its execution. He makes you feel that he is playing solely to reach the best part of your spirit.

John Mellencamp

When Johnny Cash comes on the radio, no one changes the station.

Tom Waits

His ability to take a song and make it his own is just uncanny. I heard him sing my song I Won't Back Down, and I just thought, God, he must have written that, because it never rang so true to me as when I heard him sing it.

Tom Petty

There's nobody remotely like him.

Elvis Costello

God is not making any more.

Nick Lowe

Johnny Cash is the Mount Rushmore of music.

Raul Malo