June Carter Cash
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June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was a singer, songwriter, actress, a member of the first family of country music, the Carter Family, and the second wife of legendary singer Johnny Cash. She played the guitar, banjo, and autoharp.
Carter-Cash was portrayed in an Academy Award-winning performance by Reese Witherspoon in the 2005 film Walk The Line, biographing the life of her husband Johnny Cash and of the development of the relationship between them.
Biography
With Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters
In March 1943, when the Carter Family trio stopped recording together after the WBT contract, Maybelle Carter, with encouragement from her husband Ezra, formed "Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters" with her daughters Helen, Anita, and June. The new group first aired on radio station WRNL in Richmond, Virginia, on June 1. Doc and Carl rejoined them in late 1945. June, then 16, was a co-announcer with Ken Allyn and did the commercials on the radio shows. For the next year, the Carters and Doc and Carl did show dates within driving range of Richmond through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. She later said she had to work harder at her music than her sisters, but she had her own special talent, comedy. A highlight of the road shows was her "Aunt Polly" comedy routine. Carl wrote in his memoirs that June was "a natural born clown, if there ever was one." She attended South Rowan High School during this period, and began to experiment with illegal drugs, such as amphetamines. It took the family's help to get her away from these drugs.Ezra Carter declined Grand Ole Opry offers to move the family to Nashville, Tennessee a number of times because the Opry would not permit Chet Atkins to accompany the group. Finally, in 1950 Opry management relented and the group, along with Atkins, became part of the Opry company. Here the family befriended Hank Williams and Elvis Presley (to whom they were distantly related), and June met Johnny Cash.
With her thin and lanky frame, June Carter often played a comedic foil during the group's performances alongside other Opry stars Faron Young and Webb Pierce.
Marriages and Children
She was married three times, first to honky-tonk singer Carl Smith from July 9, 1952, until their divorce in 1956. They had a daughter Rebecca Carlene Smith aka Carlene Carter. On November 11, 1957, she married stock car driver Edwin "Rip" Nix and had a daughter Rozanna (Rosie Nix Adams). They were divorced in 1966. Both daughters became singers. John Carter Cash, born in 1970, was the product of her marriage to singer Johnny Cash.
With Johnny Cash
June married Johnny Cash, her third husband, in 1968. Speaking of their 35-year marriage, Rosanne Cash stated that "if being a wife were a corporation, June would have been a CEO. It was her most treasured role." The couple had a son, John Carter Cash, born 1970.In 1967, she and Cash won a Grammy Award in the Best Country & Western Performance, Duet, Trio Or Group (vocal or instrumental) category for the song "Jackson." In 1970, they won again in the Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal category for the song, "If I Were a Carpenter."
Death
June died on May 15, 2003 in Nashville, Tennessee from complications following heart valve surgery two years after she had an artificial pacemaker implanted. She was interred in Hendersonville Memory Gardens in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Johnny Cash died four months later.Awards
In 1999, she won a Grammy Award for her album, Press On. Her last album, Wildwood Flower, was released posthumously in 2003 and won two additional Grammys. It contains bonus video enhancements showing extracts from the film of the recording sessions which took place at the Carter Family Estate in Hiltons, Virginia on September 18-20, 2002.Trivia
- She played the part of Mrs. "Momma" Dewey in Robert Duvall's 1997 movie The Apostle.
- She was portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line, a 2005 biopic of Johnny Cash that focused largely on the development of their relationship from the time that they met until she accepted his marriage proposal. Witherspoon received many awards for her role, including an Academy Award for Best Actress and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
References
- Among My Klediments, June Carter Cash, Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1979. ISBN 0-310-38170-3
- In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music, Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998. ISBN 0-375-70082-x
- Country Star June Carter Cash, Wife Of Johnny Cash, Dies At 73 Downey, Ryan J. (15 May 2003) for MTV.
- Will you miss me when I'm gone? : the Carter Family and their legacy in American music, Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg, New York, Simon & Schuster, c2002
- A Brief History of My Family and an Autobiographical Sketch of My Musical Life, Carl P. McConnell, January 24, 1976 [Written as background for liner notes for a "Doc and Carl" album recorded at Johnny Cash's Nashville studio.]
See also
External links
- [MoreThings] June Carter and Johnny Cash
- [at Yahoo! Music]
- [June Carter Cash] — a timeline of her life
- [Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash Marriage Profile]
- [A.P. Carter Museum]
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