Johnny Cash's condition 'improves'

Johnny Cash: Two Grammy nominations

Country music legend Johnny Cash is responding well to treatment for pneumonia, hospital officials have said.

The singer was taken to hospital in Nashville last week and has been upgraded from a serious to a satisfactory condition.

"He is improving," a spokesperson for the Baptist Hospital said.

The 68-year-old suffers from autonomic neuropathy, a disease of the nervous system that makes him susceptible to pneumonia.

Grammys

He was treated for the illness during a two-week hospital stay in 1999. In 1998, he was hospitalised twice for the illness and said later he nearly died.

Cash, whose hits include A Boy Named Sue and A Thing Called Love, has sold more than 50 million records during a career spanning five decades.

He has been nominated for two Grammy Awards this year - for best contemporary folk album for American III: Solitary Man and best male country vocal performance for the song Solitary Man.

The Grammys take place on Wednesday.