8. Johnny Cash was sued for embezzlement by his former band member
According to Marshal Grant, Johnny Cash controlled his drug intake after 1967, and stopped using amphetamines completely following John Carter’s birth. In the mid-to-late 1970s Johnny Cash once again slid into heavy use of amphetamines and tranquilizers, which led to problems with his bass player. When Luther Perkins died, his daughters approached Cash for funds which had been set aside for his retirement, only to find that the funds were gone. Cash accused Grant of embezzling the funds, and fired him. In fact, funds which had also been set aside for Grant’s retirement were likewise missing, and the Perkins’s and Grant sued Johnny for the missing money.
Both lawsuits were settled out of court, for an undisclosed amount, and Grant was confident that he had cleared his name, but the acrimony remained between the two men for some time. Although he settled the lawsuits, Johnny never retracted the accusation. At one point Cash denied that there had ever been a formal partnership, but Grant had retained records and documents which clearly established that there had, and the roles of each member of the partnership. After Grant left the Cash organization he worked as a tour manager for the Statler Brothers, and he and Johnny reconciled their differences in 1997. Grant died in 2011 at the age of 83.
