News

Eddy Arnold died of a long-term illness in Nashville on Thursday morning, just shy of his 90th birthday. Known for such smash country songs as "Make the World Go Away," "Cattle Call," "Bouquet of Roses," "Somebody Like Me," and "Turn the World Around," Arnold was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame way back in 1966, largely thanks to his role in shaping the "Nashville Sound" that mixes country and pop music.

"I sing a little country, I sing a little pop, and I sing a little folk, and it all goes together," Arnold said in 1970. Arnold was also regarded as one of the richest men in country music, thanks to his string of hit singles and successful real estate investments around the Nashville area. He was plagued by heartache, however.

"What hurts me more than anything else is that he died of a broken heart," Jim Ed Brown, a longtime friend and Grand Ole Opry star, told the Associated Press. "I don't think he ever recovered from that."

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
05.08.08