The death of American singer/songwriter Johnny Cash, at the age of 71, on 12 September, 2003, knocked the nation and left a huge hole in the industry.

Perhaps the most widely recognised voice in country music, he recorded more than 1,500 songs and won 11 Grammy’s including a lifetime achievement award.

His career spanned more than four decades and included trademark hits like ‘A Boy Named Sue’, ‘Folsom Prison Blues’, ‘Ring of Fire’, and ‘I Walk the Line’.

His success crossed well over into the pop scene too. He had 48 hit singles rivalling bands like The Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys.

John R Cash was born the fourth of five children in Kingsland, Arkansas on 12 February, 1932.

At the tender age of 12, he was penning songs and dreaming about a musical career. After graduating from high school in 1950, he went north in search of a job and a better future.

He worked in a Michigan auto plant for a short period before deciding to enlist in the US air force. After a four-year stint in Germany, during which he bought his first guitar, he returned to the US and left the military.

He moved to Memphis, took a job as an electrical goods salesman and enrolled on a radio announcer’s course.

It was there he met guitarist Luther Perkins and bass player Marshall Grant (later known as the Tennessee Two) and the three began performing gospel music and other songs on the radio and in local bars.

After securing an audition with Sam Phillips, the owner and artistic driving force of Sun Records, Mr Cash hoped his big break had come. But he wasn’t bowled over by his efforts, until that is, he heard the 23-year-old’s song ‘Hey Porter’ – and offered him a contract.

The song was released in June 1955, and it began his extraordinary 48-year recording career.

Johnny Cash toured as an opening act for Elvis Presley during 1955 and performed on the Louisiana Hayride radio show.

Over the next 18 months he released a string of hit records, including “Folsom Prison Blues”, “I Walk the Line”, “Get Rhythm” and “Big River”.

After a disagreement with Sam Philips, he moved to Columbia Records where he recorded numerous top-selling singles, including “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” and “Ring of Fire”, written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore.

Mr Cash maintained a gruelling work schedule and this took a heavy personal and psychological toll. He became dependent on amphetamines in the early '60s, was briefly jailed for transporting drugs across the US border from Mexico in October 1965 and a year later his first wife Vivian filed for divorce.

He married June in 1968, establishing a direct personal and musical link to the famous Carter family, who, together with Jimmie Rodgers, were America’s first country music stars.

In the 1960s, he started performing in prison concerts – his first being at Huntsville Texas State followed by concerts at Folsom.

Then his health started to decline. He suffered from diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and other respiratory ailments.

At Mr Cash’s funeral, long time friend Kris Kristofferson described him as a “holy terror... a dark and dangerous force of nature that also stood for mercy and justice for his fellow human beings”.