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David Allan Coe, the country singer-songwriter who wrote the working class anthem “Take This Job and Shove It” and had hits with “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” and “The Ride” among others, has died, a representative for Coe confirmed to CBS News. He was 86.
Coe died in a hospital around 5 p.m. Wednesday, his manager David Wade confirmed to CBS News in a statement Thursday. The cause of death wasn’t disclosed.
“He was a complicated man, an outlaw, and a great Songwriter, Singer, and Showman,” Coe said. “He had fans from around the world and appreciated them all.”
Coe’s wife, Kimberly Hastings Coe, told Rolling Stone he was one of the best singers and songwriters of our time.
“My husband, my friend, my confidant and my life for many years. I’ll never forget him and I don’t want anyone else to ever forget him either,” she wrote to the publication.
Whether he was labeled outlaw or underground, Coe was clearly an outsider in Nashville’s music establishment, even throughout his successes as an in-demand songwriter and singer, eventually developing a core following around his raw, often obscene lyrics and a checkered and somewhat mysterious past.