The Nation - News from May 17, 1987

Johnny Cash, country and Western singer, was stricken during a performance in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and taken to Mercy Hospital, where he was being held for observation, a hospital spokesman said. Cash, 55, famous for such hits as “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line” and “A Boy Named Sue,” suffered an irregular heartbeat and was in the hospital’s coronary unit, Merv Riepe, hospital president, said. Riepe said Cash’s wife, June Carter, noticed that the singer appeared to be having difficulty with his voice early in his concert at Abraham Lincoln High School before she helped him off the stage. He was expected to leave the hospital today.