June Carter Cash began her musical career singing with her family's folk group when she was just 10 and later toured with Elvis Presley and co-wrote "Ring of Fire" — one of Johnny Cash's biggest hits.
Phillip Harrington / Alamy Stock PhotoJune Carter Cash at her home in 1956.
June Carter Cash, one of America’s most famous female country stars, was destined for a career in music.
Born to a family of musicians in rural Virginia in 1929, June Carter rose to fame after performing with her mother and sisters on tours across the nation. Her remarkable talents brought her to the forefront of the country music industry in the 1950s and ’60s, when she crossed paths with her future husband, Johnny Cash.
Together, they became one of the most powerful and beloved duos in music history. For more than 30 years, their partnership persevered through both joy and pain. June watched as Johnny became a country icon, but she also helped him through a drug addiction and even co-wrote what may be his most famous hit: “Ring of Fire.”
June Carter Cash died in 2003, leaving behind an unmatched legacy. While she was happy to support her husband as he pursued his dreams, she was so much more than Mrs. Johnny Cash.
The Early Life And Career Of June Carter Cash
Valerie June Carter was born in Maces Spring, Virginia, on June 23, 1929. As one of three daughters of an Appalachian folk singer, music was in her blood. Her mother, Maybelle Carter, was part of a band called the Carter Family with her husband Ezra’s brother, A. P. Carter, and his wife, Sara.
At just 10 years old, June began performing with the band. When the group split in 1943, Ezra Carter began managing his wife and daughters in a new band called the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle. The group was a success, and soon, June Carter was performing on radio shows and at the Grand Ole Opry.
Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoThe Carter Family band, featuring June Carter Cash’s mother Maybelle (left), and her aunt and uncle, A. P. and Sara Carter.
In 1952, June married one of the Opry’s biggest stars, Carl Smith. They had a daughter together, Carlene, who would go on to become a successful musician herself.
At the same time, June Carter’s star was growing. She began to pursue acting, appearing on shows like Gunsmoke and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. However, her call to fame was undoubtedly her music career. She thrived as both a solo singer and in a group, and she was able to play the guitar, banjo, autoharp, and harmonica.
In 1956, June started touring with Elvis Presley. And on July 7 of that year, she met Johnny Cash for the first time backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. She also divorced her first husband in 1956, but she and Cash didn’t immediately begin their romantic relationship. The following year, June married Edwin “Rip” Nix. The two of them had another daughter, Rosie.
However, it was her later relationship with Johnny Cash that propelled June Carter to a new level of fame.
A Love Story Unfolds Between Johnny And June
From the day they met at the Opry, there was something special between June Carter and Johnny Cash.
“I can’t remember anything else we talked about, except his eyes,” she later recalled, according to the official June Carter Cash website.
Public DomainJohnny Cash in 1955, shortly before he met June Carter.
June first performed at one of Johnny Cash’s shows in 1961, and she joined his tour the following year. The two of them quickly fell in love, even though they were both married to other people at the time — June to Rip Nix and Johnny to Vivian Liberto.
Around 1962, June penned the words to “Ring of Fire” to describe her relationship with Johnny. “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,” June told Rolling Stone in 2000. “I was miserable, and it all came to me: I’m falling in love with somebody I have no right to fall in love with.”
Vivian Liberto later claimed that June pursued Johnny, once allegedly confronting her backstage and saying, “Vivian, he will be mine.”
In 1966, Johnny Cash and June Carter both divorced their spouses. Johnny proposed onstage at a show in Ontario in February 1968, and a week later, they wed in Franklin, Kentucky. June was officially June Carter Cash. Two years later, she gave birth to their first and only child, John Carter Cash.
Universal Images Group North America LLC / Alamy Stock PhotoJohnny Cash and June Carter Cash with their son, John, in the early 1970s.
Over the next 30 years, Johnny and June became one of the most iconic couples in the history of country music. However, their relationship wasn’t always happy. Johnny Cash struggled with an addiction to amphetamines and barbiturates, and he credited June with helping him through it. She often searched through his belongings to flush his pills down the toilet, despite how angry it made him.
But June Carter Cash was much more than the wife of Johnny Cash. She was a talented country singer and songwriter in her own right. In 1999, at age 70, she released the solo album Press On, which went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.
While introducing her new songs to a crowd of eager fans, as reported by The Washington Post at the time, June said, “I’ve been real happy paddling along after John, being Mrs. Johnny Cash all these years. But I’m sure thrilled to be up here singing for you tonight.”
Gijsbert Hanekroot / Alamy Stock PhotoJohnny and June Carter Cash perform in Amsterdam in 1972.
Sadly, June Carter Cash would die just four years later.
Inside The Death Of June Carter Cash
In April 2003, June Carter Cash was diagnosed with a leaky heart valve. She underwent urgent surgery at Baptist Hospital in Nashville on May 7, and while she seemed to be recovering well initially, she suffered cardiac arrest a week later. She died on May 15, 2003, at the age of 73, with her friends and family, including her beloved Johnny Cash, by her side.
June Carter Cash’s final album, Wildwood Flower, was released four months after her death. It won two Grammys, bringing her total number of Grammy Awards to five.
Johnny was heartbroken following his wife’s death. He died just five months later, on Sept. 12, 2003, due to complications from diabetes. Tragically, June’s daughter Rosie Nix Adams passed away on Oct. 24, 2003, from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by propane heaters on her tour bus.
Johnny and June Carter Cash are buried together alongside Rosie at Hendersonville Memory Gardens in Tennessee.
Find a GraveThe graves of June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash.
Today, more than 20 years after her death, June Carter Cash’s legacy is still very much alive. She was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in 2009, and she was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2025.
Her talent undoubtedly set a standard for future generations of female country artists. Not only did she help shape American country music, but she also played a key role in defining the image of the musical couple alongside the love of her life, Johnny Cash.
After reading about the life of June Carter Cash, go inside the death of country star Patsy Cline in a plane crash. Then, look through 31 vintage photos from the glory days of Outlaw Country.
