George Jones, Musician, Dies today at age 81

George Jones, a famed country singer, died today, as a result of acute hypoxia.  In my opinion, his music sounds more like old school rock and roll, than actual country music.  Here is one of his most popular songs posted above.

The 81-year-old made headlines for his towering presence on stage and in the studio, as well as his stormy private life.  Country music icon George Jones – widely considered the greatest exponent of his genre – has died aged 81.

The peerless, hard-living singer recorded dozens of hits about good times and regrets and peaked with the heartbreaking classic He Stopped Loving Her Today.

His publicist Kirt Webster said Jones died on Friday at the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville after being admitted with a fever and irregular blood pressure.

Known for his clenched, precise baritone, Jones had Number 1 songs in five separate decades from the 1950s to the 1990s, recording more than 150 albums. He was idolized not just by fellow country singers, but by Frank Sinatra, Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, James Taylor and countless others.

He married four times – including once to fellow country legend Tammy Wynette.

His sometimes stormy relationships, hard drinking and violent outbursts made the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

His attachment to the bottle and, eventually, his cocaine use, caused him to miss so many concerts that he earned the nickname No-Show Jones.

He was also, more kindly, called The Possum.

He got in fights and destroyed hotel rooms.  He ventilated his tour bus by emptying the chambers of a pistol into its floor.

He drove to a liquor store on a ride-on lawnmower when his second wife, Shirley Corley, hid all the car keys.

At his most inebriated, he insisted on singing in the voice of a duck named Dee doodle.  Jones recounted multiple brushes with death in his book, but his best-known one came in 1999, when he crashed his Lexus SUV into a bridge in Tennessee, while talking on his phone.

He suffered a collapsed lung and ruptured liver and spent two weeks in a Nashville hospital.

Jones is survived by four children and his fourth wife of 30 years, Nancy.

He was due to be back on the road this year after postponing or cancelling some dates due to an upper respiratory infection that led to two hospital stays.

He was also planning to go back into the studio to start working on a new album with Dolly Parton.

Written by Computergirls1985 of youtube