Jack Green, a legendary country singer who’d been part of the Grand Ole Opry since 1967, has passed away aged 83, leaving behind him a career that included a scattering of US country chart hits and plenty of recognition among the wider music world.

Green’s first dalliances with country music really began when he moved back to Tennessee – where he was born – after a stint in Georgia, and his talent was noticed by country legend Ernest Tubb. The Hollywood Reporter write that Greene admitted to taking a lot of mental notes watching the Hall of Famer. "I watched him perform for five years, but also watching him handle the public," Greene recalled in a 1997 interview. "All of those things, he taught me. The fans is the most important item in your life." Thanks to Tubb’s tutelage he found his way to Decca Records and played many live shows supporting the great man.

Of course, Green would also go on to become something of a country great in his own right. After his first top 40 hit ‘Ever Since My Baby Went Away,’ in 1966, he had a monster hit with the following ‘There Goes My Everything’, which went to number one in the US country charts and became a crossover success. He went on to have four more number one US country chart singles as well as enjoying two US Country chart-topping albums.