Posted by Kevin Neilson on 8/15/2011

Johnny Cash, a country music legend, was born in Arkansas in 1932. As a child with five siblings, he worked with his family on their farm of 20 acres. Each day, during downtime, the family enjoyed music in the form of folk songs and hymns. Even out in the fields he joined the crop gatherers in singing work songs.

After graduating high school in 1950, he left to find work in Michigan, ending up at an automotive plant. But it wasn’t really for him, so he soon found himself joining the Air Force and being sent off to Landsberg, Germany.

It was during his service that Johnny started his first band, the Landsberg Barbarians. After four years of service, he returned to marry his sweetheart, whom he had met in basic training, Vivian Liberto. He then spent some time working odd jobs while he tried to get in with Sam Phillips’ Sun Records.

Although the record company rejected him as a solo artist initially, Johnny managed to convince them of the value of his band, The Tennessee Three. He made some successful songs with his band, but it wasn’t until he sang “I Walk the Line” that he really achieved great success.

The song started out in the number one position and remained on the country music charts for 43 weeks. The song sold over 2 million copies. In spite of this incredible success, however, there was a dream Johnny longed to fulfill. In 1956, he achieved that dream when he sang in the Grand Ole Opry, a great honor in country music.

Through the next nearly half a century, Johnny Cash shared his voice with countless millions, earning Grammys and other awards. Two years after his death in 2003, a movie honoring his life was Oscar-nominated for best picture, entitled “Walk the Line.”