Johnny Cash, the gravel-voiced country legend whose life story reads like a hit song—riddled with triumph, tragedy, and redemption—continues to captivate fans more than two decades after his death. Born J.R. Cash on February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas, the singer-songwriter rose from cotton fields to global stardom, blending country, rockabilly, gospel, and folk into a sound that defied genres. His death on September 12, 2003, at age 71 from complications of diabetes, came just four months after losing his wife, June Carter Cash, leaving a void in American music that’s yet to be filled. As the 22nd anniversary of his passing marked last month with tributes and reissues, Cash’s influence endures—from sold-out biopics to chart-topping covers—proving the Man in Black’s shadow still looms large over Nashville and beyond.

Cash’s early life was forged in hardship during the Great Depression. One of seven children in a sharecropper family, he picked cotton from age 5 and lost his older brother Jack at 12 to a sawmill accident—a trauma that haunted him for life and inspired songs like “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.” After high school, Cash joined the U.S. Air Force in 1950, serving in Germany where he bought his first guitar for $5 and penned “Folsom Prison Blues.” Discharged in 1954, he married Vivian Liberto and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, working as an appliance salesman while gigging with the Tennessee Two—bassist Marshall Grant and guitarist Luther Perkins.

His big break came in 1955 when Sun Records’ Sam Phillips signed him after an audition where Cash’s deep baritone and boom-chicka-boom rhythm caught fire. Hits like “Cry! Cry! Cry!” and “I Walk the Line” topped country charts, the latter a love letter to Vivian that crossed over to pop. By 1958, Cash had switched to Columbia Records for more creative freedom, releasing gospel albums alongside country staples. But fame’s dark side emerged: Touring exhaustion fueled amphetamine addiction, leading to arrests for drug possession and erratic behavior, including a 1965 forest fire in California that killed 49 condors and cost him $82,000 in fines.

The 1960s marked Cash’s peak and nadir. His marriage to Vivian crumbled amid rumors of affairs, ending in divorce in 1966 after 12 years and four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara. Enter June Carter, the Carter Family scion and his duet partner on “Jackson,” which won a Grammy in 1968. Their love story—immortalized in the 2005 biopic Walk the Line—saw June help Cash kick pills after his 1968 proposal on stage in London, Ontario. They married that year, welcoming son John Carter Cash in 1970. June’s influence grounded him, inspiring classics like “Ring of Fire,” co-written by her about their fiery romance.

Cash’s career rebounded with live prison albums that became cultural touchstones. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968) and At San Quentin (1969) captured raw energy, the former selling 3 million copies and featuring his defiant “Folsom Prison Blues” performance. These records humanized inmates and boosted Cash’s outlaw image, leading to his ABC variety show The Johnny Cash Show (1969-1971), which hosted Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Ray Charles, bridging genres during turbulent times.

The 1970s and ’80s saw highs and lows. Hits like “A Boy Named Sue” (1969) topped charts, and he joined the Highwaymen supergroup with Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson in 1985, releasing three albums that celebrated country rebels. But label disputes and health woes—chronic back pain from a bull-riding injury, pneumonia—dimmed his star. By the ’90s, Cash was adrift, dropped by Columbia in 1986 after 28 years. Enter producer Rick Rubin, who signed him to American Recordings in 1993. Their collaboration yielded stark, acoustic albums like American Recordings (1994), featuring covers of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” and U2’s “One,” earning Cash a new generation of fans and Grammys.

Cash’s later years were marked by illness and introspection. Diagnosed with Shy-Drager syndrome in 1997 (later reclassified as autonomic neuropathy), he battled vision loss, pneumonia, and diabetes, canceling tours but recording until the end. His 2002 cover of “Hurt,” with its haunting video directed by Mark Romanek, won MTV awards and symbolized his mortality, garnering 1.2 billion YouTube views to date. June’s death from heart surgery complications on May 15, 2003, devastated him; he passed four months later at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, surrounded by family.

Cash’s legacy is monumental: Over 90 million records sold, inductions into the Country Music (1980), Rock & Roll (1992), and Gospel Music (2010) Halls of Fame, and a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. His activism—advocating for Native Americans in “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” performing for troops in Vietnam, and prison reform efforts—cemented his “Man in Black” persona as a symbol of solidarity with the downtrodden. “I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,” he sang in 1971’s “Man in Black.”

In 2025, Cash’s influence thrives. The September 12 anniversary brought tributes: A Nashville concert with Rosanne Cash and Kris Kristofferson, a reissued At Folsom Prison vinyl, and a PBS documentary Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon exploring his faith and flaws. John Carter Cash, 55, continues the family torch as a producer and author, releasing Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics in 2023. Modern artists like Chris Stapleton and Kacey Musgraves cite Cash’s raw authenticity, while his estate battles unauthorized AI recreations of his voice.

Cash’s story isn’t polished: Addictions led to seven arrests, including a 1965 El Paso drug bust, and strained relationships with daughters who later spoke of his absences. But his redemption—sobriety in the ’70s, renewed faith—resonates. “He was human, flawed, but always striving,” Rosanne told Rolling Stone in 2023.

As fans stream his catalog—over 1 billion Spotify plays annually—Cash’s voice endures, a baritone echo of America’s soul. From Arkansas dirt to heavenly stages, the Man in Black walks the line eternal.