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Country Music Icon Wagoner Dies

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 30, 2007

Porter Wagoner, 80, a country singer who mixed rhinestone suits, a towering pompadour and cornball jokes with direct, simple songs during a career best known for his partnership with Dolly Parton, died Sunday in Nashville.

Wagoner had 81 singles on the country charts, 29 of them in the Top 10. Among his many hits were 'Green, Green Grass of Home,' 'Skid Row Joe' and 'The Cold Hard Facts of Life.'

For 21 years, appearing on TV in flashy suits, he was the host of 'The Porter Wagoner Show,' which eventually was syndicated in 100 markets, reaching 3.5 million viewers.

He won three Grammys for gospel recordings he made with the Blackwood Brothers.

For more than half a century, Wagoner was a fixture of the Grand Ole Opry; in 1992, after the death of Roy Acuff, he became its unofficial spokesman.

The New York Times

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