Johnny Cash Battles Recurring Pneumonia

February 12, 2001 -- Country legend Johnny Cash was reported as being in serious but stable condition today after checking into a Tennessee hospital Sunday with a recurring health problem.

The 68-year-old singer was treated for pneumonia at Nashville's Baptist Hospital. Cash has checked into the hospital numerous times over the past few years to be treated for the illness.

In October 1997, he was diagnosed with Shy-Drager syndrome, an illness similar to Parkinson's disease that attacks the nervous system and affects muscle control. But in an interview in 2000, Cash said that it was a misdiagnosis and that he was steadily improving, although he did not say what the source of his ill health was.

Cash has not toured since 1997, though he has sung on special occasions, and he continues to record albums.

Known as the Man in Black, Cash has sold more than 50 million records throughout five decades, he has won multiple Grammy awards, and he is the only person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Cash is credited with being the inspiration for a generation of Nashville upstarts, with his distinctive bass voice becoming an icon for Americana.

In recent years, he has been embraced as an icon by alternative artists. His most recent release, American III: Solitary Man, was produced by Rick Rubin, and includes covers of songs by Nick Cave and Will Oldham. The effort earned the singer two more Grammy nominations.

Reuters contributed to this report.