Hospitalized Cash to Miss VMAs
Though an early buzz suggested that Johnny Cash would attend the
MTV Music Video Awards tonight, the legendary Man in Black will not
be able to make the event, after he was hospitalized Tuesday for an
undisclosed stomach ailment.
The seventy-one-year-old Cash is listed in stable condition in a
Nashville hospital. He has been hospitalized several times over the
past few years; he suffers from autonomic neuropathy, which makes
him susceptible to pneumonia, though his manager, Lou Robin, said
that the latest illness is unrelated to that condition.
According to Robin, Cash will likely be discharged over the
weekend or early next week. He has plans to travel to Los Angeles
next week to work with producer Rick Rubin on his fifth
American Recordings album. Cash has recorded more than
forty cuts for possible inclusion on the album, and he and Rubin
plan to whittle the list down to fifteen or so. The record will
likely follow an American Recordings box set due later
this year, which featured unreleased material recorded for the five
previous albums Cash has recorded with Rubin since 1994.
The most recent of those albums, American Recordings IV:
When the Man Comes Around was released earlier this year and
has enjoyed bigger sales due to the success of the video for Cash’s
cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt.” The clip is up for five Video
Music Awards tonight, including video of the year. “Hurt” and
American IV have also earned Cash three nominations for
the 2003 Country Music Association Awards, including Album of the
Year, Single of the Year and Music Video of the Year. The CMAs are
set for November 5th in Nashville.