On this day June 11, 2015

The Grand Ole Opry’s Jim Ed Brown died from lung cancer at the age of 81. Brown was a country music singer and TV and radio host who first found fame as a member of The Browns, a country music group he started with his two sisters in the 1950s. Later, he managed a successful solo career for decades, which included hits like “I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You,” and TV successes like You Can Be a Star. He is perhaps best known as the voice of Grand Ole Opry radio’s Country Music Greats Radio Show, which he hosted for more than a decade.