Johnny Cash (1)

Johnny Cash
1932-2003
Country's eternal outlaw
Cause of Death: Complications due to diabetes

Cashing In: The career resurgence that began in 1993 when Tom Petty told Rick Rubin that he should record Cash for his American Recordings label has been uninterrupted by the death of the Man in Black, his image now frozen forever as the noble sufferer in the award-winning video for “Hurt.” Rubin’s Unearthed box set surfed the immediate sympathy wave, but more than two years later the deceased Cash thrives as a touchstone of cool. The Oscar-catnip biopic Walk the Line does a good job of sexing up the craggy Cash and his late wife June while boosting the early music, and a recent career-spanning comp, The Legend of Johnny Cash, has become a chart staple. Wisely, daughters Rosanne, Tara, Kathleen and Cindy and son John knocked back a 2004 idea from Preparation H, who wanted to use Cash’s 1963 hit “Ring of Fire” in their advertising—a business opportunity Cash might have grabbed at his mid-’80s Columbia nadir, when he thought nothing of recording songs like “The Chicken in Black.”

Cash Cow: Cash’s stock is now so high, Rubin can use the still-unreleased American V, the last volume of Cash-recorded material he has in the vault, as collateral against which to renegotiate American’s contract with Universal. Now due sometime in 2006 after more than 12 months’ delay, tracks will likely include “First Corinthians 5:55” and, aptly, “Ain’t a Grave Can Hold Me.” Expect a double..