Friends, Fans Remember Arnold

5/8/2008 Kasey Bell Country Music legend Eddy Arnold made a great impact on his friends, fans and contemporaries, and now with him gone, those same people are sharing that impact with others.  Eddy Arnold passed away earlier today, May 8, in Cool Springs, Tennessee, at the age of 89. “Eddy Arnold has become virtually an institution in American life, with an identity that is only peripherally related to Country Music,” wrote Bill Malone in his book Country Music, USA. Eddy was most famous for his Country Music hits “Make the World Go Away,” “I Want to Go with You” and “Turn the World Around.”  Over his career, he sold more than 85 million records and had 37 singles hit the charts.  His career also inspired two biographies. “In many ways, the story of Eddy Arnold and Country Music run parallel, both starting poor and a bit backward, but, in the end, reaching from Tennessee to the ends of the earth,” wrote Don Cusic, author of the biography Eddy Arnold: I’ll Hold You In My Heart.  “Eddy put a tuxedo on Country Music.” Others feel the same way Cusic does about the late Country legend.  One of those people is WSM-AM radio personality Eddie Stubbs.  “He brought Country uptown,” Stubbs said. Through his career, Eddy Arnold also earned the respect of many of his fellow Country Music singers, including Kitty Wells, who was touched by Eddy’s passing.  "He was like Roy Acuff,” she said.  “Everybody loved his singing.” Besides the music, Eddy Arnold was also known for having a tremendous sense of humor.  One of the last people to see him alive, Sony BMG Nashville chairman Joe Galante, said that is what he remembers the most. “I will miss his sense of humor…the twinkle in his eyes and his friendship,” Galante said.  “I will always have some very special memories and his music.  The last time I saw him, a few weeks ago, he wanted to make another record.  There was a special kind of happiness about him whenever he talked about music, and that is how I will remember him.” Eddy Arnold was preceded in death by his wife Sally Gayhart Arnold, who died in March of this year.  He is survived by their children Richard Edward Jr. and Jo Ann Pollard, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.  Eddy Arnold's memorial plans have not yet been announced. Source: Tennessean.com