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Johnny Cash, the king of country music who became known as the "Man in Black", was the mind behind hits including I Walk The Line, Ring Of Fire and A Boy Named Sue.
Born in Arkansas on February 26, 1932, Cash had six brothers and sisters. One of them, Jack, died in a farm accident when Cash was 12.
Shortly afterwards, Cash began writing songs and playing guitar.
He served in the air force from 1950 to 1954, and released his first song, Hey Porter, in 1955. He followed it up with hit singles Cry! Cry! Cry!, Folsom Prison Blues and So Doggone Lonesome.
Cash went on to release I Walk The Line (1956), Don't Take Your Guns to Town (1959), A Boy Named Sue (1969) and Man In Black (1971). All became internationally-known country anthems.
The star's songs were based on a multitude of issues in America's history, from stories about the western railroads to the treatment of the country's Indians.
Cash also recorded several albums inside prisons.
Despite enjoying great success, Cash battled an amphetamine addiction during the 1960s. He began serious efforts to clean up in order to marry his second wife, country singer June Carter, who toured with him. The pair married in 1968.
Cash's hits with Carter include It Ain't Me Babe (1964), Jackson and Long-Legged Guitar Pickin' Man (both 1967).
In 1985 Cash recorded Highwayman with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson.
Among Cash's last recordings were Hurt, for which he won an MTV video award, and Give My Love To Rose, which earned him his 11th Grammy.
During his career, Cash was inducted into both the Country Music and the Rock And Roll halls of fame.
A sufferer of autonomic neuropathy in later life, Cash succumbed to pneumonia in a Nashville hospital on September 12, 2003, a few months after Carter's death.
Cash had a son with Carter, as well as four daughters from his previous marriage to Vivian Liberto.
Two years after Cash's death, film director James Mangold released the film Walk The Line, which was based on the singer's relationship with Carter.
The film, which starred Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, earned the latter a best actress Oscar.
