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Singer/actor Jerry Reed dies; co-starred in ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ films
Jerry Reed, the singer/actor perhaps best known as Burt Reynolds’ truck-driving sidekick in Smokey and the Bandit (for which Reed also wrote and sang the main theme, “East Bound and Down”), has died at 71 of complications from emphysema.
A gifted guitarist who worked with Chet Atkins, Reed wrote songs for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Tom Jones, Nat King Cole and others before becoming a preformer in his own right in the early ’70s. Other hits included “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” “Amos Moses” and “The Bird.”
Here’s Reed singing “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” at a concert in Toledo, Ohio, in 1983.
The Associated Press has more.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Headlines, Entertainment, National news, Obituaries
Comments
By LD
September 2, 2008 5:53 PM | Link to this
This is sad news. Jerry Reed, as an XM deejay once noted, introduced the term “Son” into the vernacular of country music.
I had the pleasure of seeing him at Billy Bob’s once circa the time of the video posted here. From Guitar Man to the Smokey theme, he was one of a kind.
RIP Snowman, RIP.
— LD
By Say it ain't so!
September 2, 2008 9:59 PM | Link to this
Well, I guess it all sounds funny But it hurts too much to laugh She got the gold mi-i-ine I got the sha-a-aft