NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jerry Reed, a singer who became a good-ol’-boy actor in car- chase movies such as “Smokey and the Bandit,” has died of complications from emphysema at 71.
His longtime booking agent, Carrie Moore- Reed, no relation to the star, said Reed died early Monday.
“He’s one of the greatest entertainers in the world. That’s the way I feel about him,” Moore-Reed said.
Sony BMG Nashville chairman Joe Galante called Reed a larger-than-life personality.
“Everything about Jerry was distinctive: his guitar playing, writing, voice and especially his sense of humor,” Galante said. “I was honored to have worked with him.”
Reed’s catalog of country chart hits, from 1967 through 1983, was released under the label group’s RCA imprint.
As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, Reed had a string of hits that included “Amos Moses,” “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot,” “East Bound and Down,” “She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)” and “The Bird.”
In the mid-1970s, he began acting in movies such as “Smokey and the Bandit” with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good ol’ boy. But he was an ornery heavy in “Gator,” directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998’s “The Waterboy,” starring Adam Sandler.
Born in Atlanta, Reed learned to play guitar at age 8 when his mother bought him a $2 guitar and showed him how to play a G chord.
He dropped out of high school to tour with Ernest Tubb and Faron Young. At 17, he signed his first recording contract, with Capitol Records.
He moved in the mid-1960s to Nashville, where he caught the eye of Chet Atkins.
He first established himself as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded two of his songs, “U.S. Male” and “Guitar Man” (both in 1968). He also wrote the hit “A Thing Called Love,” which was recorded in 1972 by Johnny Cash. He also wrote songs for Brenda Lee, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Oak Ridge Boys.
Reed was voted instrumentalist of the year in 1970 by the Country Music Association.
He won a Grammy Award for “When You’re Hot, You’re Hot” in 1971. A year earlier, he shared a Grammy with Atkins for their collaboration “Me and Jerry.” In 1992, Atkins and Reed won a Grammy for “Sneakin’ Around.”
Reed continued performing on the road into the late 1990s, doing about 80 shows a year.
In a 1998 interview with The Nashville Tennessean, he admitted that his acting ability was questionable.
“I used to watch people like Richard Burton and Mel Gibson and think, ‘I could never do that,’ ” Reed said. “When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: money.”
