Eddy Arnold dies at 89

[David Paleg]

Country superstar Eddy Arnold dies at 89
May 8, 9:58 AM (ET)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A biographer for country music superstar Eddy Arnold says the singer has died at the age of 89.

Belmont University Professor Don Cusic says Arnold died at a care facility near Nashville Thursday morning. Arnold was just days short of his 90th birthday.

Arnold's mellow baritone on songs like "Make the World Go Away" - a crossover hit on the pop charts in 1965 - made him one of the most successful country singers in history.

He became a pioneer of "The Nashville Sound," also called "countrypolitan," a mixture of country and pop styles.

He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1966. The following year he was the first person to receive the entertainer of the year award from the Country Music Association.

[Hoosier Daddy]

But ... what'll happen to Lisa Douglas, and Sam Drucker, and Mister Haney?

What about Fred & Doris Ziffel, Hank Kimball, and Arnold the Pig?

Did someone have to climb up the telephone pole to call the funeral home?

Who'll get the farm?

[jag]

I suppose I'll sound like either an old fogey or an uninformed country listener--both of which I am--but why do so few country singers today sound as good as Eddy? And, no, it's not so much that his music is familiar to me. Rather, it's as if the singers of his era actually seemed to know how to sing, rather than just imitate their contemporaries.

And, how can it be explained that Eddy Arnold is a "legend" who sang rather well, whereas so many (though by no means all) "stars" of today sing through their noses?

[amayo]

At further risk of sounding like an old fogey, I love Eddy Arnold's stuff. I was exposed to it from a very early age since he was one of my Grandfather's two favorite singers. The other was Marty Robbins.

I think he was correct whe he once said he wasn't a country singer. He was a pop singer who sounded country.

[Dave Allen]

Country music as a whole went to hell in a handbasket because of the Eddy Arnold sound, in my opinion. He was a great singer, but that was truly when country went uptown. It took the Outlaw movement to save it.

[The People's DJ]

But ... what'll happen to Lisa Douglas, and Sam Drucker, and Mister Haney?

What about Fred & Doris Ziffel, Hank Kimball, and Arnold the Pig?

Did someone have to climb up the telephone pole to call the funeral home?

Who'll get the farm?