Johnny Paycheck

Johnny Paycheck was born Donald Eugene Lytle on May 31, 1938, in Greenfield, Ohio. By age 9, Lytle was already playing in talent contests. His big break came in the early 1960s when he convinced country music legend George Jones to hire him. Paycheck provided harmony vocals as well as bass and steel guitar for Jones. He later co-wrote Jones's hit song "Once You've Had the Best."

Paycheck was a tenor harmony singer with numerous hard country performers in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Ray Price. Paycheck, along with Willie Nelson, worked in Price's band the Cherokee Cowboys. He is featured as a tenor singer on recordings by Faron Young, Roger Miller, and Skeets McDonald. In 1960, he reached Top 35 status in Cashbox magazine's country charts as Donny Young with the tune "Miracle Of Love". From the early to mid 1960s, he also enjoyed some success as a songwriter for others, with his biggest songwriting hit being "Apartment No. 9", which served as Tammy Wynette's first chart hit in December 1966.

In 1964, he changed his name legally to Johnny Paycheck, taking the name from Johnny Paychek, a top-ranked boxer from Chicago (and not directly as a humorous alternative to Johnny Cash, as is commonly believed) who once fought Joe Louis for the heavyweight title.[2] He first charted under his new name with "A-11" in 1965. His best-selling single from this period was "She's All I Got", which reached No. 2 on the U.S. country singles charts in 1971 and made it onto the Billboard Hot 100. His "Mr. Lovemaker" also reached No. 2 on the U.S. country singles chart in 1973. But with the popularity of Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings in the mid 1970s, Paycheck changed his image to that of outlaw, with which he was to have his largest financial success.

It was his producer Billy Sherrill who helped revive his career by significantly changing his sound and image. Sherrill was best known for carefully choreographing his records and infusing them with considerable pop feel. The Paycheck records were clearly based on Sherrill's take on the bands backing Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson on records.

A member of the Grand Ole Opry, Paycheck is best remembered for his 1977 hit single, "Take This Job and Shove It", written by David Allan Coe. The song sold over two million copies and inspired a motion picture of the same name. "Colorado Kool-Aid", "Me and the IRS", "Friend, Lover, Wife", "Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets", and "I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)" were other hits for Paycheck during this period. He received an Academy of Country Music Career Achievement award in 1977.

To me, an outlaw is a man that did things his own way,
whether you liked him or not. I did things my own way."

— Johnny Paycheck

In 1981 Paycheck appeared on an episode of the television show The Dukes of Hazzard as himself. The scene had him playing "Take This Job and Shove It" and arguing with Boss Hogg when the sheriff tried to give him a citation over the content of the song.

In December 1985, Paycheck was convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail for shooting a man at the North High Lounge in Hillsboro, Ohio; he fired a .22 pistol and the bullet grazed the man's head. Paycheck claimed the act was self-defense. After several years spent fighting the sentence, he began serving his sentence in 1989, spending 22 months in prison before being pardoned by Ohio Governor Richard Celeste.[3]

I heard from fans constantly throughout the entire two years.
The letters never stopped, from throughout the world. I looked forward to mail call every day.

— Johnny Paycheck after his release from prison.

The most successful of his later singles, released during his appeal, was "Old Violin", which reached # 21 on the country chart in 1986. His last album to chart was "Modern Times" in 1987. He continued to release albums, the last of which, Remembering, appeared in 2002. In 1990, he filed for bankruptcy after tax problems with the IRS. Although Paycheck was addicted to drugs and alcohol during his career, he later was said to have "put his life in order"[4] after his prison stay. He continued to perform and tour until the late 1990s. Shortly before his retirement, in 1997, he was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry; in a rare exception to protocol, Opry general manager Bob Whittaker personally invited Paycheck to join instead of having another member do the invitation.[5]

After 2000, his health would only allow for short appearances. Contracting emphysema and asthma after a lengthy illness, Paycheck died at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2003, aged 64.[6]

He was buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville, in a plot donated by George Jones.[7]

He is survived by his wife Sharon Rae Paycheck and son Jonathan Paycheck. He had two brothers, Jeff and Bud Lytle, who are both deceased.

With his producer, Aubrey Mayhew, Paycheck co-owned his record company, Little Darlin' Records. Paycheck's Little Darlin' recordings featured the pedal steel guitar work of Lloyd Green. By the end of the 1960s, Little Darlin' Records folded. Mayhew and Paycheck soon set up shop under the name Certron Records, the newly formed recording company owned by Certron (a manufacturer of audio and video tape). The label was able to sign Bobby Helms, Ronnie Dove, Clint Eastwood, Pozo-Seco Singers (as Pozo Seco), and Paycheck. The label was a failure and closed by 1972.[8] In the late 1990s, after taking them for granted for years, country music historians began to recognize the distinctive and sharp-edged sound of the Little Darlin' recordings as unique in their time, Paycheck's in particular.

A tribute album, Touch My Heart: a Tribute to Johnny Paycheck, was released in 2004 on the Sugar Hill Label. Produced by Robbie Fulks, the album features George Jones, Marshall Crenshaw, Hank Williams III, Al Anderson, Dallas Wayne, Neko Case, Gail Davies and Fulks himself covering some of Paycheck's best-known songs. In his song "Grand Ole Opry (Ain't So Grand Anymore)", Hank Williams III praises Paycheck (along with Waylon Jennings) as a "real rebel" the Grand Ole Opry only reluctantly inducted.

I'm a man who believes that right is right and wrong is wrong. Treat me right, and I will give you my all. Treat me wrong, and I will give you nothing. They don't like me for that, but that's the way I am."

— Johnny Paycheck

His song "It Won't Be Long (And I'll Be Hating You)" appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto V.

His song "Pardon Me I've Got Someone To Kill" is covered on the album ALL THE WAY by Diamanda Galas.

• Official website
• CBS News – Country singer Johnny PayCheck dead at 64
• Allmusic