On This Day in 1991, a Country Music Legend Died Exactly 36 Years After Releasing His Working-Class Anthem

Tennessee Ernie Ford died of liver disease in Virginia on 17 October 1991, aged 72, exactly 36 years after releasing “Sixteen Tons”. The song became his defining hit, connecting a story about coal miners’ debt and exploitation with Ford’s warm baritone and distinctive finger-snapping.

Born Ernest Jennings Ford in Bristol, Tennessee, he began in radio in 1937, served as a bombing instructor during the Second World War and later built a career as a singer and television host. “Sixteen Tons” sold more than two million copies, topped the US country chart for 10 weeks and the pop chart for eight; Ford was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1990.