Back to This Week in Music History: September 9 - 15
September 12, 2003: Johnny Cash Died From Respiratory Failure at 71
Scott Gries, Getty
The man in black, country singer Johnny Cash, died at age 71 from respiratory failure. In the years leading up to his death Cash had experienced a career revival thanks to a spartan new gothic country sound shepherded by producer Rick Rubin topped by an excellent cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt," which endeared him to the alternative generation.
The 2005 film Walk the Line, featuring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny and Reese Witherspoon as wife June Carter Cash, was nominated for five Academy Awards.
