June Carter Cash
Photo: Dualtone Music Group Inc.

June Carter Cash, wife and musical partner of legendary singer Johnny Cash, died Thursday from complications following a May 7 heart operation. She was 73.

A singer, songwriter, author and sometime actress, June Carter Cash married Johnny in 1968 and shared two Grammy awards with him for their duets on "If I Were a Carpenter" and "Jackson." She passed away at Nashville, Tennessee's Baptist Hospital with her husband and family members at her side, the Associated Press reported.

June Carter Cash came from a famous musical family whose Carter Family Records, the Carter Family group and Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters were instrumental in the proliferation of country music.

June gave birth to Johnny's son, John Carter Cash, in 1970. She was mother to country singer Carlene Carter by former husband and country singer Carl Smith, and stepmother to singer Rosanne Cash.

She wrote an autobiography in 1979 and released a memoir, "From the Heart," almost 20 years later. In 1999 she won a Grammy for her solo acoustic album Press On.

Johnny and June's love for one another was well documented, perhaps most notably in the lyrics to 1963's "Ring of Fire," a song June co-wrote with Merle Kilgore that became a hit for Johnny.

June Carter Cash recently appeared in the video for Johnny's version of the Nine Inch Nails ballad "Hurt" (see "Lens Recap: The Story Behind Johnny Cash's 'Hurt' ").

• June Carter Cash
• Johnny Cash