He was known as the "Jolly Green Giant" to country music fans around the world; Jack Greene has died at the age of 83 from complications related to Alzheimer's disease. Greene died in his sleep at his home in Nashville, according to a statement. Greene's biggest record was the classic "There Goes My Everything", which topped the charts in 1966 for seven weeks and was named the CMA Single of the Year at the 1967 CMA Awards and was written by Dallas Frazier.

Greene followed "Everything" up with "All The Time", which spent five weeks at number one, but was nowhere near as popular as "Everything". Greene had a total of five number one singles between 1966 and 1969.

Greene was born in Maryville, Tennessee on January 7, 1930. Greene Began his showbiz career in radio at the ripe old age of 17. In 1962, Greene was hired as Ernest Tubb's drummer and stayed with Tubb until 1964. It was Tubb who encouraged Greene to launch a solo career. 1964 was also the year that Greene joined the Grand Ole Opry where he remained a regular and favorite performer until his death yesterday.

Greene's fist top 40 hit, "Ever Since My Baby Went Away", was released on Christmas Day in 1965 and was written by Marty Robbins. The next single, "There Goes My Everything", would firmly plant Greene in country music immortality.

Blake Shelton expressed sorrow over Greene's passing on his Twitter account and Gene Watson released a statement that read: "So sorry to hear that country music legend Jack Greene has died. He was a great singer, and an even better friend."

I personally had the pleasure of speaking with and spending some time with Greene backstage at the Grand Ole Opry on numerous occasions. He was a true gentleman and a genuinely good person from top to bottom. Below is a video of Greene performing "Statue of A Fool" during the taping of a TV special called Country's Family Reunion Nashville. So long, Jack and thank you.

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