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Johnny Paycheck | |
|---|---|
 From left to right: Johnny Lee, Johnny Paycheck, and Mickey Gilley at Gilley's Nightclub, 1978 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Donald Eugene Lytle |
| Also known as | Donny Young |
| Born | May 31, 1938 Greenfield, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | February 19, 2003 (aged 64) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1953–2003 |
| Labels | Sony, Little Darlin', Epic, Certron |
Johnny Paycheck (born Donald Eugene Lytle; May 31, 1938 – February 19, 2003)[1] was an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry member notable for recording the David Allan Coe song "Take This Job and Shove It". He achieved his greatest success in the 1970s as a force in country music's "outlaw movement" popularized by artists Hank Williams Jr., Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, and Merle Haggard. In 1980, Paycheck appeared on the PBS music program Austin City Limits, though in the ensuing decade, his music career slowed due to drug, alcohol, and legal problems. He served a prison sentence in the early 1990s, and his declining health effectively ended his career in early 2000.
- ^ Cooper, Daniel. (1998). The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 408.