*EPF516 09/12/2003
Bush on Death of Singer Johnny Cash
(White House Report, September 12, 2003) (220)

President Bush, in a statement September 12, praised the career of singer Johnny Cash who died earlier in the day at a Nashville, hospital of complications from diabetes that resulted in respiratory failure. He was 71.

"Johnny Cash was a music legend and American icon whose career spanned decades and genres," the Bush statement said. "His resonant voice and human compassion reached the hearts and souls of generations, and he will be missed. Laura joins me in sending our thoughts and prayers to his family."

Cash, known as "The Man in Black," was a towering musical figure whose rough, unsteady voice championed the downtrodden and reached across generations with songs like "Ring of Fire," "I Walk the Line" and "Folsom Prison Blues."

Cash won 11 Grammy Awards ����- most recently in 2003, when "Give My Love To Rose" earned him honors as best male country vocal performance -���� and numerous Country Music Association awards. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

His second wife, singer June Carter Cash, who co-wrote Cash's hit "Ring of Fire," died in May.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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