The Tragic Deaths of Country Music Stars

The tragic deaths of country music stars are always a shock. Here are some of the most recent, and most shocking, deaths in the country music world.

The life and career of Hank Williams

Hiram “Hank” Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, Williams recorded 35 singles (five released posthumously) that reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that ranked number one (three posthumously).

Born in Mount Olive, Butler County, Alabama, Williams relocated to Georgiana with his family in 1930. He met Rufus Payne, a black street musician known as Tee Tot. Payne taught Williams how to play the guitar. Williams’ mother died in 1938 when he was 15 years old. Two years later, Williams’ father was fatally shot by his own brother in a dispute over a $3 debt. Payne moved to Waterloo, Alabama five days after Hank Jr’s father’s death; Payne took Hank Jr with him to live and work on his farm.

Williams began singing on local radio stations in Alabama at age 16. In December 1941 he was hired by WSFA in Montgomery for $15 per week to sing and play guitar on a 15-minute show called The Health Parade. After six months he was earning $30 per week playing country music songs and hosting square dances on Saturdays with his band The Drifting Cowboys. They were soon joined by Jerry Rivers (fiddle), Don Helms (steel guitar) and Audrey Mae Sheppard (bass fiddle). During World War II Jimmie Davis hired them for his radio show Roots of Country Music which was broadcast on 300 stations nationwide. His first hits came with “Move It On Over”, “Honky Tonkin'” and “I Saw The Light”.

The life and career of Patsy Cline

Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, in Winchester, Virginia. Her father, Sam, was a blacksmith and her mother, Ginny, a homemaker. Cline’s family was musically inclined; her grandfather played the fiddle and her father and uncles played guitar and banjo. She began to sing at an early age, performing with her father and his band at local square dances when she was just eight years old.

Cline’s formal education ended after the eighth grade; she dropped out of school to help support her family financially. She found work as a waitress at a local truck stop; it was there that she met Hal Harris, a manager and country music promoter. Harris believed that Cline had the potential to be a successful singer and helped her secure an audition with Four Star Records in 1952. Though she was only 20 years old at the time, Cline made her first recordings with the label that year. Her first single, “A Church, a Courtroom, Then Goodbye,” was released in 1953.

The life and career of Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was one of the most influential country music stars of all time. He was known for his unique, deep voice and his ability to connect with his fans. He also had a dark side, and his life was full of tragedy.

Cash was born in 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas. His father was a sharecropper, and the family struggled to make ends meet. When Cash was just three years old, his brother died in an accident. This had a profound effect on Cash, and he would later say that it made him “realize how fragile life is.”

Cash’s own life would be full of tragedy. In 1954, he married his first wife, Vivian Liberto. The couple had four daughters together, but their marriage was tumultuous. In 1968, Cash had an affair with June Carter, which eventually led to the end of his marriage.

In 1971, Cash’s youngest daughter, Rebecca, drowned in the family swimming pool. This was devastating for Cash, and he descended into a spiral of drug abuse. He would later say that this was the “lowest point” in his life.

Fortunately, Cash eventually managed to get clean and sober. He married June Carter in 1977, and the couple continued to make music together until her death in 2003. Johnny Cash himself died just four months later at the age of 71.

The life and career of Keith Whitley

Keith Whitley was an American country music singer who enjoyed success in the industry throughout the late 1980s. Born in Ashland, Kentucky, Whitley began his musical career playing bluegrass music with his family. He later signed with Sony Records in Nashville and released his debut album, A Hard Act to Follow, in 1988. The album’s lead single, “Don’t Close Your Eyes”, reached number one on the Billboard country charts, making Whitley the first artist in over a decade to achieve such success with a debut single.

Whitley continued to find success with follow-up singles “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” and “When You Say Nothing at All”, both of which topped the country charts. However, despite his commercial success, Whitley struggled with alcoholism and substance abuse for much of his career. He openly spoke about his struggles and even entered rehabilitation on multiple occasions.

Tragically, Keith Whitley died of alcohol poisoning in 1989 at the age of 33. His death came as a shock to the country music community and devastated his family and friends. Keith Whitley is remembered as a talented singer and songwriter who left an indelible mark on country music.

The life and career of George Jones

George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.

Born in Saratoga, Texas, Jones first heard country music when he was seven and was given a guitar at the age of nine. He married his first wife Dorothy Bonvillion in 1950 and was divorced in 1951. He served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War.

Jones met Tammy Wynette in 1957 and they were married in 1969. As one of country music’s “first couples”, they recorded a series of duets that became hits. Tammy died from complications arising from her fifth pregnancy in 1975.

Jones continued to record successfully throughout the 1970s and 1980s; his albums I Am What I Am (1980) and Walls Can Fall (1988) were certified platinum. In 1989, he suffered a severe stroke which severely limited his ability to sing; he continued to record occasionally until his death in 2013. The George Jones Museum in Nashville, Tennessee celebrates Jones’s career; he is inducted into multiple halls of fame, including the Country Music Hall of Fame (1992), the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (2001), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2005), and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame (2007).