Country Music Hall of Fame member John Anderson died Wednesday at 71.
Back in the summer of 1972, the young man from Apopka, Florida, moved to Nashville, where his older sister Donna already lived, and took work as a construction laborer on the new Grand Ole Opry House.
He helped nail the shingles onto its roof before the building opened in 1974.
He died at his home in Smithville, Tennessee, and his representatives confirmed his death. The cause of death has not been released.
His family shared the news in a statement on his official Facebook and social media pages, alongside a photo of him performing, and called him a “beloved husband, father, grandfather, and best friend.”
“To the world, he was a gifted country music singer whose voice and songs touched countless lives. To us, he was so much more. He was the heart of our family, the one who made us laugh, loved us fiercely, and made every ordinary moment feel special,” they wrote.
Reba McEntire answered in a comment on the family’s social media post, “One of my favorite people in this business. I sure will miss you, John. Love you and your music always.”
John Anderson Came to Nashville With No Backup Plan and Built a Career of Five No. 1 Hits
Born December 13, 1954, John Anderson came to town with one goal, and he once said so plainly in an interview for the Hall of Fame.
Anderson said he moved to Nashville to sing country music, that it was all he had ever done, and that he had no backup plan.
He signed with Warner Bros. in 1976, and over the years he opened shows for Merle Haggard, George Jones and Willie Nelson. In 1983, “Swingin'” won CMA Single of the Year, he took home the CMA Horizon Award, and the song became the biggest-selling country single in Warner Bros. history.
Nine years passed before his next No. 1, and then “Straight Tequila Night” got him there in 1992 and started a run of eight more Top 10 singles. His hits also included “Seminole Wind,” “Black Sheep,” “Wild and Blue” and “Money in the Bank,” and he earned 20 Top 10 country hits, five of which reached No. 1.
For You
The Academy of Country Music gave him its Career Achievement Award in 1993, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted him in 2014. Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, pointed back to one of his earlier songs in the museum’s tribute.
“In 1981, John famously gave life to Billy Joe Shaver’s lyric, ‘I’m just an old chunk of coal, but I’ll be a diamond someday.’ He was already a diamond then, and a diamond he always will be.”
What Health Problems Did John Anderson Have?
Before Years, Anderson was off the road with an illness that cost him nearly all his hearing for six or seven months. He told Rolling Stone that nobody could really put a finger on what had happened or why.
Doctors first suspected brain cancer before finding the tumor was not malignant. His wife Jamie, married to him since 1983, was with him in the hospital.
In 2020, Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and Dave Ferguson brought him back into the studio to record Years. Auerbach said the record was more than just a record and felt like a testimony, and that learning what John had been through amazed him even more.
In 2024 he went into the Country Music Hall of Fame alongside Toby Keith and James Burton, and the Hall’s page now lists his years as 1954 to 2026. He was still on the calendar, with shows booked in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 30, Marietta, Ohio, on Oct. 31, Tiffin, Ohio, on Nov. 1 and Nashville on Nov. 8.
He told Rolling Stone, “I’m still scared as hell of dying,” and he did not stop there.
“On the other hand, when my time comes, I think I’ll be in great hands. That part of it makes things better. Faith is a big part of living, and hope is a big part of living,” he said.
His family wrote that they are completely heartbroken, that his music will live on, and that the love he gave them will always be his greatest legacy. They have asked fans to keep them in their thoughts and prayers as they grieve John Anderson, the young laborer who once nailed shingles on the Grand Ole Opry House roof and ended up in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
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