Johnny Cash Diagnosed With Parkinson's

Johnny Cash announced Tuesday that he has developed Parkinson's disease, according to Heidi Robinson, Cash's spokeswoman at American Recordings.

The disease attacks the nervous system and is extremely difficult to contain. Though Cash was able to perform recent concert dates in support of his latest release, Unchained, he will opt out of his upcoming book signing tour for Cash: The Autobiography to deal with the illness. Cash's upcoming tour dates have been indefinitely postponed.

Cash's manager Lou Robin states, "Johnny feels confident that once the Parkinson's is medically stabilized, he can resume his normal work schedule." Parkinson's is the same disease that has plagued Muhammad Ali and Katherine Hepburn.

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Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

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