Charlie Daniels

music career that began in the 1950s, Charlie Daniels was both a pioneer of southern rock and an American institution. The Charlie Daniels Band, best known for their, about a lad named Johnny who defeats Beelzebub in a fiddle-playing contest for a shiny instrument made of gold, continued to tour and record music up until his death at the age of 83. Health had gradually failed him over the past two decades, during which time he battled prostate cancer and suffered a stroke and pneumonia. He had a pacemaker fitted to control his heart. Cause of death was a stroke.