Porter Wagoner, a three-time Grammy winner and a member of the Country Music Hall Of Fame, died of lung cancer Saturday night in Tennessee. He was 80.

Wagoner, who survived a near fatal stomach aneurysm in 2006, was hospitalized again this month and died in a Nashville hospice, according to media reports.

Wagoner’s working life began in a butcher’s shop in West Plains, Mo., where he also occasionally stopped to song for a local radio show. His first records were made at a radio station in nearby Springfield after which he moved to Nashville. This record includes his first No. 1, “A Satisfied Mind” (1955).

In 1957, he joined the cast of Nashville’s country music radio program the Grand Ole Opry, where he was a member for 50 years. He became the radio show’s public face. In 1960, he launched TV's syndicated Porter Wagoner Show, on a budget of less than $1,000 an episode.

Wagoner is well known for having introduced Dolly Parton in the music industry in 1967. They recorded many duets together, of these, fourteen tracks becoming Top 10 hits. Among them, “The Last Thing on My Mind,” “Just Someone I Used to Know,” “Please Don’t Stop Loving Me.”

Wagoner also produced some of Parton’s early solo hits, such as 1975’s “The Seeker.” The duo broke up in 1974 and Wagoner filed a US$3 million lawsuit claiming Parton owed him money. They settled out of court in 1980, and Wagoner later said they were always friendly. Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” for him when she left.

From 1954 to 1980, his solo career registered an impressive 20 Top 10 country hits including: “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “The Carroll County Accident” and “The Cold Hard Facts of Life.” More than anything, Wagoner loved a song that had a story.

In 2002, Wagoner was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

This year Wagoner recorded his final album “Wagonmaster.” The producer of this album, Marty Stuart said: “It's the kind of country that defined what real and true, pure, authentic country music is. It's the remnant of that old cloth that so little is left of, from the Hank Williams era. It's just a tiny remnant of that. But, man, is it a good one.”

Country star Dierks Bentley who recently became a member of Grand Ole Opry, had visited Wagoner five days before his death and he said: “We talked for half an hour, and at the end he led us in a prayer…. The three things he prayed for were friends, family and the Grand Ole Opry.”

Another member of the Music Hall of Fame, Bill Anderson, also visited Wagoner recently and he stated: “He was so important, because of what he did, who he was and what he stood for. He was a good one. When I was just a disc jockey in Commerce, GA, he was the only Grand Ole Opry star that ever came and visited me at the station.”