June Carter Cash
Valerie June Carter Cash (June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was a singer, songwriter, actress and comedian. She was a member of the famed pioneer country act the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. She played the guitar, banjo, and autoharp.
Early life
Cash was born Valerie June Carter in Maces Springs, Virginia. She was born into country music and performed with the Carter Family from a young age, beginning around 1939. In March 1943, when the original Carter Family trio stopped recording together, Maybelle Carter, with encouragement from her husband Ezra, formed "Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters." The "sisters" were June, Helen, and Anita.
The new group first aired on radio station WRNL in Richmond, Virginia in the spring of 1943. Doc Addington, Maybelle's brother and Carl McConnell, her cousin, of joined them in late 1945. June, then 16, was a co-announcer with Ken Allyn and did the commercials on the radio shows. She often played the comic "kid sister" role in the act.
For the next year, the Carters, with Doc and Carl, did show dates within driving range of Richmond through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. June 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" routine. Carl wrote in his memoirs that June was "a natural born clown, if there ever was one." June attended South Rowan High School during this period.
The group soon began ranging farther west and south. June's father, Ezra, declined offers from the Grand Ole Opry to move the family to Nashville, Tennessee a number of times. A sticking point in the negotiations was that the Opry would not permit guitarist Chet Atkins, who backed the group for their performances at radio station KWTO in Springfield Missouri, 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 other country stars.
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. It was also at the Opry that June met her future husband and singing partner, Johnny Cash.
Branching out
In 1949, June scored a hit on both the country and pop charts with a comic rendition of "Baby It's Cold Outside," recorded with duo Homer & Jethro. As a solo artist, she became somewhat successful with upbeat country tunes of the 1950s, such as "Jukebox Blues."
She was married to country singer Carl Smith on July 9, 1952. They had one daughter, Rebecca Carlene Smith, aka Carlene Carter. The couple divorced in 1956. On November 11, 1957, June married stock car driver Edwin "Rip" Nix and had another daughter, Rozanna (Rosie Nix Adams). Cater and Nix were divorced in 1966. Both daughters became singers. Rosie Nix Adams died in 2003 in a bus from possible carbon monoxide poisoning.
June began to travel with Johnny Cash show in the 1960s and was soon joined there by her Mother Maybelle and the other Carter sisters. Her duets with Cash were particularly popular in live performances.
With Johnny Cash
In 1962 June and Merle Kilgore wrote Ring of Fire, which became a major hit for Cash and was also the theme song of a popular movie of the same name. The song was inspired by Carter's feelings of conflict, arising from her relationship with Johnny Cash, with whom she had fallen in love.
In 1964, June recorded "It Ain't Me Babe" with Cash, again making both country and pop charts. Their biggest hit together, however, was "Jackson," which reached No. 2 on the country charts. In 1967, the song won them a Grammy Award in the Best Country & Western Performance by a Duet or Group category.
In 1968, 12 years after they had first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Johnny proposed to June during a live performance in London, Ontario, Canada. Their marriage spanned 35 years.
In 1970, Carter and Cash won another Grammy in the Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group for "If I Were a Carpenter."
June and Johnny had one child, John Carter Cash, who was born in 1970. Rosanne Cash, June's stepdaughter, once stated that "if being a wife were a corporation, June would have been a CEO. It was her most treasured role."
Later career and death
Following a long absence from the spotlight, June returned to record the 1999 solo album Press On, which won a Grammy for best traditional folk album.
She died on May 15, 2003. June Carter Cash died in Nashville, Tennessee of complications following heart valve replacement surgery on May 15, 2003 at the age of 73. Less than half a year later, Johnny Cash also died.
The 2003 album Wildwood Flower, released posthumously, won two Grammys.
In actng
June Carter Cash is best known for singing and songwriting, but she was also an accomplished actress. Her best know acting role included "Momma" Dewey, the mother of the main character in Robert Duvall's 1997 movie The Apostle'. She also played Sister Ruth, wife to Johnny Cash's character, Kid Cole, on the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993-1997).
In 2005, Carter became known to her widest audience ever through the film based Walk the Line, based on her romance with Cash. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, and Reese Witherspoon won a Best Actress Oscar for her role as June. That same year, Columbia Legacy issued a two-disc set, Keep on the Sunny Side: June Carter Cash — Her Life in Music.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Cash, June Carter. Among My Klediments Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1979. ISBN 0-310-38170-3
- Dawidoff, Nicholas. In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music, Vintage Books, 1998. ISBN 0-375-70082-X
- Zwonitzer, Mark, with Charles Hirshberg. Will you miss me when I'm gone?: the Carter Family and their legacy in American music, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2002.
External links
- MoreThings June Carter and Johnny Cash
- at Yahoo! Music
- June Carter Cash at the Internet Movie Database
- A.P. Carter Museum
- June Carter Cash in the 1930 US Census
- June Carter interview with Johnny Carson
Credits
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