Country superstar George Jones dies at age 81
George Jones, the famous country singer who recorded dozens of hits about good times and regrets, peaking with the heartbreaking classic “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” has died on Friday.
He was hospitalized on April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure, the Web site of Webster & Associates, his publicists, said in announcing the death.
Jones had No. 1 songs in five separate decades, 1950s to 1990s. He was idolized not just by fellow country artists, but by Frank Sinatra, Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, James Taylor and countless others. “If we all could sound like we wanted to, we’d all sound like George Jones,” Waylon Jennings once sang.
Jones sang about heartbreak and hard drinking, fans heard the echoes of a life in which success and excess battled for decades.
“When you’re onstage or recording, you put yourself in those stories,” he once said.
Jones’ life also included four marriages, including one to fellow singer Tammy Wynette and another, his last and longest, to Nancy Sepulvado.
He was 81.