Farewell to the Snowman

September 2, 5:46 PMNY Music ExaminerSherrill Fulghum

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Singer, actor, songwriter, and guitar player Jerry Reed has died at the age of 71 from complications of emphysema.

Born Jerry Reed Hubbard in Atlanta, Georgia Reed first started playing the guitar at age eight when his mother bought him a guitar and showed him a G chord.  At 17 he began his professional career.  Reed made his first enroads into show business as a songwriter penning songs for Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Brenda Lee, the Oak Ridge Boys, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, and Tom Jones.

Later he wrote hits of his own like "Amos Moses", "When You're Hott, You're Hot", "She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft)", and the song for the hit movie "Smokey and the Bandit" "East Bound and Down".

Beisdes starring with friend Burt Reynolds in the three "Smokey and the Bandit" movies Reed also appeared in "Waterboy", "Gator", and "Bat 21".

In an act seldom heard of among celebrities the Grammy Award winning Reed married to the same lady Priscilla Mitchell whom he married in 1959.  The couple had two children.