David Allan Coe, the country music icon who wrote major hits including “Take This Job and Shove It”, has died at the age of 86.
His death was confirmed by his wife Kimberly Coe, who told Rolling Stone in a statement: “One of the best singers, songwriters, and performers of our time [and] never to be forgotten. My husband, my friend, my confidant and my life for many years. I’ll never forget him and I don’t want anyone else to ever forget him either.”
No information on the cause of death was given.
Coe, who was born in 1939 in Akron, Ohio, was associated with the outlaw country movement alongside artists including Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. He wrote Tanya Tucker’s 1973 chart-topper “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)” and Johnny Paycheck’s 1977 No 1 hit “Take This Job and Shove It”.
Coe’s career was marked by controversy, particularly the release of two independently issued “X-rated” albums, Nothing Sacred (1978) and Underground Album (1982), which drew criticism for their use of racial slurs and misogynistic language; Coe said the material was intended as parody.
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