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Johnny & June Cash
Easily the most iconic country music romance of all time, Johnny Cash and June Carter had a love story that transcended time, addiction, and the highs and lows of fame. From performing hit crossover songs ("Jackson"), to inspiring an Oscar-caliber movie about their relationship, Johnny Cash and June Carter remain to this day one of the most famous and celebrated relationships of the 20th century. But it wasn't always smooth sailing—both Cash and Carter overcame personal hurtles and industry obstacles that could have prevented their being together.
In July 1956, Johnny Cash made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage. He had recently released the song "I Walk the Line" which had become a then-rare crossover hit with fans of both pop and country. Singer Carl Smith welcomed Cash to the show, but it was a backstage introduction that would make the biggest impact on Cash—one to Smith's wife, June Carter.
“I’ve always wanted to meet you,” Cash, who had grown up listening to June perform with her family, reportedly told her.
Carter, fresh off a tour with Cash's friend and contemporary Elvis Presley, supposedly responded, “I feel like I know you already."
“I can’t remember anything else we talked about, except his eyes,” June Carter wrote in the notes on Cash’s 2000 box set, Love, God, Murder. “Those black eyes that shone like agates… He had a command of his performance that I had never before. Just a guitar and a bass and a gentle kind of presence that made not only me, but whole audiences become his followers.”
By the early 1960s, Carter was touring with Cash regularly as a backup singer, duet partner, and entertainer. She had by that time divorced from Carl Smith, but was now married to a police officer named Edwin Nix, with whom she would have another daughter, Rosie, who also became a country musician. Both Carter and Cash would remain married to their spouses until 1966 and 1967 respectively (Vivian filed for divorce in 1966 but it was not granted until later the following year.)
Despite the fact that their romance become something of a country music fairytale, the couple was relatively circumspect throughout the years regarding the beginning of their relationship.
“I never talked much about how I fell in love with John,” Carter Cash told Rolling Stone in 2000. “It was not a convenient time for me to fall in love with him, and it wasn’t a convenient time for him to fall in love with me. ... I was frightened of his way of life. I thought, I can’t fall in love with this man, but it’s just like a ring of fire.”
It was this thought that inspired her to co-write Cash's hit song “Ring of Fire” with Merle Kilgore. (The song was originally released as a single by Carter's sister Anita before being recorded by Cash in 1963.)
Though they remained circumspect throughout their lives about precisely when and how they got together, Cash proposed to
Carter onstage at the London Ice House in front of a crowd of 7,000 in February 1968. They married just a few weeks later. Together the two continued in fruitful musical careers for many years, sharing grammy awards in 1967 and 1970 in addition to their individual awards (2 solo Grammys for Carter and 11 for Cash, including a lifetime achievement award.) They also helmed The Johnny Cash Show, a TV variety show featuring musical guests like Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson between 1969-1971.
The couple remained together for the rest of their lives, passing away a scant four months apart: Carter in May 2003, Cash that September. Throughout that time they remained an iconic music love story.
