George Jones dies at 81

The man with the golden baritone and colorful life was the singer behind such hits as She Thinks I Still Care, The Grand Tour, Walk Through This World With Me, Tender Years and He Stopped Loving Her Today, the latter of which is often at the top of industry lists of the greatest country music singles of all time.

"A singer who can soar from a deep growl to dizzying heights, he is the undisputed successor of earlier natural geniuses such as Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell," wrote Bob Allen in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's "Encyclopedia of Country Music."

Jones, known as "The Possum," was born in Saratoga, Texas on Sept. 12, 1931. He played on the streets of Beaumont for tips as a teenager. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps before returning to Texas and recording for the Starday label in Houston. In 1955, his Why Baby Why became his first Top 10 country single, peaking at number 4. That was the first of more than 160 charting singles, more than any other artist in any format in the history of popular music.

Jones' first number 1 hit came in 1959 with White Lightning, a Mercury Records single that topped Billboard country charts for 5 weeks. He moved on to United Artists and then to Musicor, notching hits including She Thinks I Still Care, The Race Is On, A Good Year for the Roses and Walk Through This World With Me.

Jones signed with Epic Records in 1971 and worked with producer Billy Sherrill to craft a sound at once elegant and rooted, scoring with The Grand Tour and Bartenders Blues. Sherrill also produced duets between Jones and his then-wife Tammy Wynette, and in the 1970s they scored top-charting hits including "We're Gonna Hold On, Golden Ring and Near You.

By the time Golden Ring and Near You hit in 1976, Jones and Wynette were divorced, and Jones was battling personal problems. He was considered unreliable in showing up for concerts, earning the moniker "No Show" Jones, something he would later joke about when he pulled his life back together.

His solo career cooled until 1980, when he recorded He Stopped Loving Her Today, a ballad penned by Curly Putman and Bobby Braddock that helped Jones win Country Music Association prizes for best male vocal and top single. The song revived a flagging career, and Jones won the CMA's top male vocalist award in 1980 and 1981. He also earned a Grammy for best male country vocal performance.

In 1983, Jones married the former Nancy Ford Sepulvado. The union, he repeatedly said, began his rehabilitation from drugs and alcohol and prolonged his life. He signed with MCA Records in 1990 and began a successful run, and he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992. His guest vocal on Patty Loveless' You Don't Seem To Miss Me won a CMA award for top vocal event in 1998, and it became his final Top 20 country hit.

In 1999, Jones nearly died in a car wreck, but he recovered and resumed touring and recording. He continued touring and collected the nation's highest arts award, the Kennedy Center Honor for lifetime achievement, in 2008.

In late 2012, Jones announced his farewell tour, which was to conclude with a sold-out, star-packed show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 22. Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Randy Travis, Charlie Daniels, Kenny Rogers, Sam Moore, The Oak Ridge Boys and many others were set to perform at Jones' Bridgestone show.

Jones is survived by his loving wife of 30 years Nancy Jones, his sister Helen Scroggins, and by his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.