Longtime Grand Ole Opry member Jack Greene, best known for such hits as "There Goes My Everything" and "Statue of a Fool," died Thursday (March 14) at his Nashville home due to complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 83.

Born and raised in Maryville, Tenn., in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Greene learned to play guitar when he was barely 10 years old and got his first radio job as a teenager. At 18, he was appearing on the Tennessee Barn Dance on WNOX in Knoxville. He then moved to Atlanta, and toured throughout the South with the Peach Street Cowboys. Greene first came to national prominence as drummer in country legend Ernest Tubb's band, the Texas Troubadours.

His five No. 1 singles as a solo artist included "There Goes My Everything," which earned the very first CMA awards for Single and Song of the Year in 1967 and spent seven weeks atop the Billboard country chart. Greene also received the first CMA Male Vocalist of the Year trophy that same year, along with the award for Album of the Year.

Fellow Grand Ole Opry member Blake Shelton remembered the man also known as the "Jolly Green Giant," tweeting: "Very sad to hear about the passing of Jack Green. He and I performed his song 'Statue of a Fool' at the Opry years ago... True hero."
Greene also scored hit duets and albums with singer Jeannie Seely, who joined his road show and recorded with him for several years.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

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