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John Prine’s career followed an incredible journey, one that started in the 1970s Chicago folk scene, grew to encompass world-wide tours, was almost derailed by serious health issues, and culminated with a place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Packed with timeless wit and gut-wrenching honesty, Prine’s poignant lyrics elevated the stories of everyday working people, drawing comparisons to Mark Twain and Bob Dylan, the latter of whom praised Prine on numerous occasions.
The humble, unassuming Prine had already established himself as one of his generation’s most celebrated and prolific songwriters when he died in Nashville, Tenn., on April 7 at the age of 73. Prine, whose health battles were well documented going back more than 20 years, succumbed to COVID-19 complications after being hospitalized at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center for nearly two weeks.
Prine’s wife and manager, Fiona, used social media to announce on March 17 that she had tested positive for the virus after the couple had returned from a European tour. Once she was cleared to stop quarantining, Fiona took Prine to Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center on March 26, where his condition worsened to the point where he was intubated and placed on a ventilator on March 28. Likely immune from already having the virus, Fiona was granted a compassionate end-of-life visit to sit with Prine in the ICU on what turned out to be his final day.
“John contracted Covid-19 and…could not overcome the damage this virus inflicted on his body,” said Fiona Prine on Instagram. “My dearest wish is that people of all ages take this virus seriously and follow guidelines set by the CDC….John will be so missed but he will continue to comfort us with his words and music and the gifts of kindness, humor and love he left for all of us to share.”
Prine’s prior health issues were well-documented, as were the singer’s comebacks. In 1998, Prine underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his neck that had damaged his vocal cords, leaving him uncertain if he’d ever be able to sing again. After rounds of radiation therapy that severed tongue nerves and removed a piece of his neck, Prine underwent a year of rehab and returned to music with a deeper voice and the same unwavering resolve fans came to know him for. In 2013, Prine was sidelined again as he had part of one lung removed to treat lung cancer.
“We are crushed by the loss of John Prine,” said Bruce Springsteen on Twitter. “John and I were ‘New Dylans’ together in the early 70s and he was never anything but the loveliest guy in the world. A true national treasure and a songwriter for the ages.”
“Words can’t even come close. I’m crushed by the loss of my dear friend, John,” tweeted Bonnie Raitt. “For all of us whose hearts are breaking, we will keep singing his songs and holding him near.”
John Edward Prine was born Oct. 10, 1946, in Maywood, Ill. His country music-loving parents, William Prine and Verna Hamm, escaped a life of coal mining in rural Kentucky in favor of unionized factory work in suburban Chicago.
Prine began writing songs and playing guitar around age 14, having learned some chords from his grandfather and older brother, and later in his teens he studied the instrument at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music.
After graduating from high school and finding work as a mailman, he was drafted by the U.S. Army in 1966 and served two years as a mechanical engineer in West Germany. After being discharged, he went back to work and composed early versions of “Hello in There” and “Sam Stone,” two of his most critically-acclaimed songs, in his head while delivering mail around his hometown in the Chicago suburbs.
Prine’s legend as a singer-songwriter dates back to his debut in 1969, when another performer dared him to take the stage at an open mic night at Chicago’s Fifth Peg. Roger Ebert, then a young film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, happened to catch one of Prine’s earliest performances, and though Ebert wasn’t a music writer, he felt compelled to write a story about the unknown Prine, which thrust the performer into Chicago’s folk-rock scene.
Prine began to develop a local following and landed a regular gig at the popular folk club Earl of Old Town, where he was discovered by Kris Kristofferson, who invited him to play in New York City. The journey east led to a record deal with Atlantic Records, which released his 1971 self-titled debut whose revelatory songs ranged from “Sam Stone,” a heart-wrenching tale of a drug-addicted Vietnam veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, to “Paradise,” an account of the coal industry’s destruction of his family’s rural Kentucky hometown that later became an environmental anthem.
Those songs and others from the album, most notably “Angel From Montgomery,” became standards covered by the Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Bonnie Raitt, Dwight Yoakam, and others.
Prine won his first Grammy (best contemporary folk album) in 1992 for “The Missing Years,” which featured guest appearances by Springsteen and Tom Petty. He received a second Grammy in the same category in 2006 for “Fair and Square.”
In 2019, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and “Tree of Forgiveness,” his 19th and final album—his first studio album since 2005—was nominated for a Grammy for best Americana album.
In January, Prine was chosen to receive a 2020 Grammy for lifetime achievement. Prine was applauded in the audience as he watched Raitt offer a loving tribute and an acoustic performance of his “Angel From Montgomery.”
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Long viewed by his peers and contemporaries as a torchbearer for modern Americana, Prine wielded a deep influence across multiple genres, from country and folk to rock ’n’ roll and soul. This was reflected over the years by multiple high-profile covers and tributes by the likes of Loretta Lynn, George Strait, and John Fogerty.
“Made from a mold now broken, John Prine was a walking, grinning argument for human beings as a pretty good species. In John’s songs, humor and heartache dance together like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame, on Instagram.
“Just gutting. No one wrote songs about humankind with more grace and wit,” tweeted late night host Seth Meyers.
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Prine’s final album ended with “When I Get to Heaven,” an upbeat, celebratory tune featuring three generations of his family and friends. “When I get to heaven, I’m gonna shake God’s hand/ Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand/ Then I’m gonna get a guitar and start a rock ’n’ roll band/ Check into a swell hotel; ain’t the afterlife grand?”
Prine, who was divorced twice, is survived by his wife, Fiona Whelan Prine; three sons, Jody, Jack, and Tommy; two brothers, Dave and Billy; and three grandchildren.
