Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Johnny Cash was born in 1932 to Southern Baptist sharecroppers in Arkansas. He began playing the guitar when he was 12 and, after serving in the Air Force, sold appliances before recording his first single in 1955. Cash has recorded more than 1,500 songs, many expressing empathy for the downtrodden, and been awarded 10 Grammy Awards. In 1980, he became the youngest member of the Country Music Association Hall of Fame and, in 1992, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.