Vietnam-era folk singer-songwriter John Prine has died at the age of 73 of medical complications due to COVID-19. Prine was hospitalized on Thursday, March 26 and was placed in intensive care for 13 days. “This is hard news for us to share,” his family stated on social media on March 29. Although he was a mainly underground artist, he was admired by many popular singers and songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s. Famous singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson are among the many people who praised Prine for his ability to write incredibly touching stories out of the daily lives of the ordinary man.
Born in Maywood, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, Prine was the son of a president of the local steelworker’s union. He was poor but began writing songs by the time he was 14. He became a mailman after high school and gained most of his song inspiration from the people he encountered on his route. In 1966, Prine, like many young men at the time, was drafted into the Army. Prine was sent to West Germany to work as a mechanical engineer, a period in time he tended to downplay. However, this era of his life inspired him to write the song that many consider his “greatest:” “Sam Stone,” a ballad of a soldier who comes home forever changed by the war and relies on morphine to ease his pain.
“I was trying to say something about our soldiers who’d go over to Vietnam, killing people and not knowing why you were there,” Prine told Rolling Stone in 2018. It was shortly after the premiere of this song when Prine became popular in the folk scene in Chicago. Word got around and soon Kris Kristofferson and Paul Anka became audience members of Prine. In 1973, Prine was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist after releasing his self-titled album.
Despite being signed by Atlantic Records, Prine did not conform to the pop music standards at the time. He eventually left Atlantic Records and from then on released several albums full of songs that have left a lot of impact on modern artists such as “That’s the Way That the World Goes Round” and “Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone.” He became living proof that singer-songwriters could survive in the music world without a major record label behind them. He won his first Grammy for his 1991 album The Missing Years for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Prine’s personal life was just as varied. He was married three times: to his high school sweetheart Ann Carole, songwriter and bassist Rachel Peer and to Fiona Whelan, with whom he had two sons, an adopted son, and stayed with until his death. Fiona would eventually become Prine’s manager along with Jody Whelan, who was her son from another marriage.
Prine survived cancer in 1997 and quickly went back to performing. In the following two decades, Prine won another Grammy, became the 13th Poet Laureate of the United States, became sole owner and president of Oh Boy Records and was named the Americana Music Association’s Artist of the Year.
Prine lived a life full of dedication to his music and musical storytelling. As one of the most influential artists in folk history, his legacy will last long after his death, especially for any songwriter who wishes to tell stories that will uplift the lives of ordinary people. Prine said it best himself when he told Rolling Stone shortly before his death how “it’s something I would like to hear somebody say…my instinct is as good as a normal person. I would like to hear somebody do that, so I just go ahead and jump into it.”
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