Johnny Paycheck achieved his greatest success in the 1970s as a force in country music's "outlaw movement" popularized by artists Hank Williams Jr.
19 Facts About Johnny Paycheck
2.
In 1980, Paycheck appeared on the PBS music program Austin City Limits.
3.
Johnny Paycheck served a prison sentence in the early 1990s and his declining health effectively ended his career in early 2000.
4.
Johnny Paycheck was born Donald Eugene Lytle on May 31,1938, in Greenfield, Ohio.
5.
Johnny Paycheck was a tenor harmony singer with numerous hard country performers in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Ray Price.
6.
Johnny Paycheck worked along with Willie Nelson in Price's band the Cherokee Cowboys.
7.
Johnny Paycheck was featured as a tenor singer on recordings by Faron Young, Roger Miller, and Skeets McDonald.
8.
Johnny Paycheck provided harmony vocals as well as bass and steel guitar for Jones.
9.
In 1964, he changed his name legally to Johnny Paycheck, taking the name from Johnny Paychek, a top-ranked boxer from Chicago who once fought Joe Louis for the heavyweight title.
10.
Johnny Paycheck first charted under his new name with "A-11" in 1965.
11.
The Johnny Paycheck records were clearly based on Sherrill's take on the bands backing Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson on records.
12.
Johnny Paycheck received an Academy of Country Music Career Achievement award in 1977.
13.
Johnny Paycheck continued to release albums, the last of which, Remembering, appeared in 2002.
14.
Johnny Paycheck continued to perform and tour until the late 1990s.
15.
Shortly before his retirement, in 1997, he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry; in a rare exception to protocol, Opry general manager Bob Whittaker personally invited Johnny Paycheck to join instead of having another member do the invitation.
16.
Johnny Paycheck was married; he and his wife Sharon had a son.
17.
Johnny Paycheck pleaded down to a misdemeanor and received a $1,000 fine.
18.
Johnny Paycheck was survived by a son and two daughters.
19.
Johnny Paycheck was buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville, in a plot donated by George Jones.