NASHVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Country music legend
Johnny Cash died early Friday of complications from diabetes at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, hospital spokeswoman Nicole Bates said. He was 71.
Cash was sent home Monday from Baptist after a week's stay for a stomach condition, according to his official Web site. Bates said he was sent home to "rest and recover."
His family was with him when he died Friday morning at 2 a.m. (3 a.m. EDT), she said.
Cash had suffered for several years from autonomic neuropathy, a diabetes-related disorder that attacks the nervous system in much the same way that Parkinson's disease does.
John R. Cash, the sharecropper's son from Kingsland, Arkansas, sang with Elvis and Bob Dylan, hosted his own TV show, played for presidents and prisoners during his career that spanned almost 50 years.
Cash was early to realize the blurred lines between country, folk and rock and roll. He was one of Sun Records' early signings, and laid down several groundbreaking sides with the Memphis, Tennessee, label, including "Cry, Cry, Cry" and "I Walk the Line."
Later, refusing to be pigeonholed, he recorded songs by Bob Dylan, leading to a duet on Dylan's 1969 "Nashville Skyline" album. On his television show, which ran from 1969 to 1971, he went well beyond Nashville, providing appearances for such divergent artists as
Ray Charles and Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt.
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