“The Man in Black” is being honored with a Johnny Cash stamp by the US Postal Service, as part of its new Music Icons series. According to USPS Stamps blog, “For the stamp art, art director and stamp designer Greg Breeding chose a photograph of Johnny Cash taken during the photo session for Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash (1963). The photo was taken by Frank Bez for Columbia Records (now part of Sony Music Entertainment). Breeding designed the square stamp and pane to resemble the appearance of a 45 rpm record sleeve.”
With his signature bass-baritone voice, Cash will always be remembered for his hits such as “Folsom Prison Blues”, “I Walk the Line”, and “Ring of Fire.” The country music star has influenced musicians across the board in all genres spanning from rock to gospel, and folk to the blues. His rebelliousness is something of legend, and came at a time when many in the industry were too scared to push the boundaries.
The Johnny Cash stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate. A release date has not yet been set. But you can be sure this is going to be a highly sought after collectors item once it is released. Johnny Cash was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. He died of complications due to diabetes in 2003.
Check out this awesome video of Cash performing “San Quentin” at San Quentin Prison: