NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Jim Ed Brown, a Grand Ole Opry star and newly elected member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, has died of cancer. He was 81.
Brown died Thursday at Williamson County Medical Center after a battle with cancer. In 2014, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, but announced several weeks back he was cancer-free and in remission.
On June 3, his daughter posted on Facebook that his cancer had returned, though not in his lungs, and he was undergoing chemotherapy.
Brown’s career spanned more than 50 years in Country Music. He began his career performing alongside his sisters, Maxine and Bonnie, as a trio known as The Browns.
In 1959, they scored a huge hit with the song, “The Three Bells.”
This fall, he, Maxine and Bonnie are to be inducted as the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Grady Martin and the Oak Ridge Boys. All three siblings were present for the announcement.
After The Browns disbanded in the mid-'60s, Brown continued on and had a successful solo career, perhaps his biggest hit being, “Pop A Top,” which was covered by Alan Jackson in 1999.
In the late '70s, he and Helen Cornelius had a string of hits, including “I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You,” and were named Country Music Association Vocal Duo of the Year in 1977.
Brown celebrated his 50th anniversary as an Opry Member in 2013.
He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Becky, and their two children. Funeral arrangements were unknown at this time.
