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April 27th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
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George Jones, a classic country singer with a voice full of raw honky-tonk emotion and a life full of turmoil, has died aged 81.
Jones’s publicist said he passed away on Friday at the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, Tennessee, eight days after he was admitted to hospital with fever and irregular blood pressure.
Jones scored his first hit in 1959 with White Lightnin’, which topped the Billboard charts for five weeks.
The Texas native was married from 1969 to 1975 to Tammy Wynette, who sang in the hit song Stand By Your Man.
Jones went on to record more than 160 charting singles, more than any popular music star of any genre, including several hits with Wynette such as We’re Gonna Hold On.
My heart is absolutely broken.
George Jones was my all time favourite singer and one of my favourite people in the world.
Like his idol, Hank Williams, Jones battled addiction.
Alcohol and cocaine frequently derailed his career and at one point his reputation for cancelling performances earned him the nickname ‘No-Show Jones’.
He credited his marriage to Nancy Ford Sepulvado in 1983, who survives him, for turning his life around and breathing new vigour into his career.
News of his death brought tributes from a number of country music’s top stars.
“Heaven better get ready for George Jones. He will always be the greatest singer of real country music – there’ll never be another,” Alan Jackson said on Twitter.
Dolly Parton said: “My heart is absolutely broken. George Jones was my all time favourite singer and one of my favourite people in the world.”
“George Jones has passed. Damn. Thought he’d live forever. Let’s break out his catalogue and play it all day,” said Toby Keith.
Jones’ long list of honours’ included membership in Nashville’s esteemed Grand Ole Opry, a place in the Country Music Hall of Fame and, in 2008, a Kennedy Centre Honour for lifetime achievement.
Last year, Jones announced a farewell tour that was to have ended in November with a sell-out concert in Nashville with fellow country stars including Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Charlie Daniels and Kenny Rogers.
AFP/Reuters
Topics:
country,
music,
death,
united-states
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-27/country-music-legend-george-jones-dies-aged-81/4655080
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