3. Johnny Paycheck

By the time he had his first hit record in the mid 1960’s, Donald Lytle had run away from home at 15, rode the trains, performed in plenty of clubs, joined the Navy, played instruments on other artist’s recordings, recorded solo music on various labels and changed his name to Johnny Paycheck. From that point, he had a few hits but nothing huge. But Paycheck was never afraid of changing his musical direction. He started with a honky-tonk sound, then went through a stage of pop arrangements and strings. After some issues with the law in the mid 70’s, he altered to the now-popular “outlaw” image going through the genre. This would bring about a string of successes for him, but more problems with the law in the early 1980’s would put an end to that. Throughout the 80’s, his legal issues would not stop: drugs, alcohol, tax problems, arrested for rape of a minor, and murder. He spent 22 months in prison before being pardoned by the Ohio governor. He never got a radio career back after that, but he kept recording and performing until 2000, and passed away in 2003. He has got the hits and resume to be a Hall Of Fame member, but I’m sure those legal problems are big deterrents to voters. Will he make it in?