To many of his fans, country music singer Johnny PayCheck was the epitome of the hell-raising outlaw singer. He was known as much for his string of classic country hits as he was for his scrapes with the law. Born Donald Eugene Lytle on May 31, 1938, in Greenfield, Ohio, PayCheck began his career playing in backing bands for George Jones, Ray Price, Porter Wagoner, Faron Young. He also proved himself to be an adept songwriter, writing Tammy Wynette's debut hit, 1966's "Apartment No. 9." PayCheck broke onto the country music charts in 1965 with his first bonafide "A-11." But it wasn't until 1971 that he truly arrived on the scene with "She's All I Got", which peaked at No. 2 that December on Billboard magazine's country singles chart. His follow-up, the raw, soulful "Someone to Give My Love To" from the spring of 1972, also made the top five. Other hits followed, including "Mr. Lovemaker" (1973), "Song and Dance Man" (1974), and 1977's "Slide off Your Satin Sheets" and "I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)." But it was his blue-collar anthem, "Take This Job and Shove It", that made Johnny a hero to the working class. "Take This Job and Shove It" was PayCheck's only No. 1 hit on Billboard's country singles chart, spending two weeks there in January 1978; the song also inspired a hit movie of the same name.Unfortunately, PayCheck was just as well known in the court system, but not as a singer. Among his troubles with the law: He spent time in a military prison in the 1950s for assaulting an officer; and in 1989, was sentenced to prison (he served two years) in connection with a shooting of a man during a barroom quarrel in Ohio.But to his fans and a legion of younger country singers, Johnny PayCheck will always be known as the epitome of the outlaw country singer who gave the genre some of its best-loved hits and lived life on his own terms.
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