Since 1989, Joe Diffie, an American country music singer and songwriter, has been a significant figure in Hollywood. He has also received a Country Music Association Award and a Grammy Award in 1998. He had seven studio albums to his credit, as well as five #1 singles, including “Third Rock from the Sun” and “Home.” Joe was the first country singer to achieve a number-one debut single on all three charts, with “Home.”

Diffie’s style was characterized by a neotraditionalist country influence, as well as a combination of novelty tunes and ballads. Diffie died of COVID19 on March 29, 2020, at the age of 61.

Net Worth

Joe Diffie, a 61-year-old musician and composer, amassed a sizable fortune over his professional career. He had amassed a fortune worth millions of dollars over the course of his career, which spanned more than three decades. At the time of his death, his net worth was believed to be over $36 million. Diffie has also made money through a number of gigs and tours.

What was Joe Diffie Famous for?

Joe Diffie Famous as a Grammy Award-winning country music singer.

Where was Joe Diffie Born?

Joe Diffie was born in the United States on December 28, 1958, in Tulsa. Joe Logan Diffie was his birth name. He was an American citizen. His ethnicity was White, and his zodiac sign was Capricon.

Joe Riley Diffie (father) and Flora Diffie (mother) were from a musical family (mother). His mother was a singer, and his father used to play guitar and banjo, so both of his parents had a musical background. Following in his mother’s footsteps, he began singing at a young age while listening to his father’s record collection.

Joe, according to his parents, was able to sing harmony at the age of three. His family eventually relocated to San Antonio, Texas, while he was in first grade, and then to Washington, where he attended fourth and fifth grades, before finally settling in Wisconsin.

He went to Velma High School in Oklahoma. Diffie was a football, baseball, and golf player in high school, as well as a track runner who was named Best All-Around Male Athlete. He went on to Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma to further his medical studies after graduating but he dropped out.

Cause of Death

Joe Diffie died on March 29, 2020, at the age of 61, at his home in Nashville from COVID-19 complications. On March 27, 2020, Diffie died of the disease for which he had tested positive just two days before.

Early Life:

Joe Diffie began his career in the oil fields and later drove a truck before returning to Duncan to work in a foundry. He also worked as a musician, first in a gospel group called “Higher Purpose” and then in a bluegrass band called “Special Edition.”

He created a recording studio soon after and was given the opportunity to travel with Special Edition in neighboring states. Due to the closure of his other work at the foundry, Diffie was forced to sell the studio due to financial constraints. He even went through a period of sadness.

Joe Diffie went on to work for Gibson Guitar Corporation, where he met a songwriter and recorded more demos. He quit his job at the corporation in mid-1989 to record demos full-time. Bob Montgomery, Epic Records’ vice president of A&R at the time, contacted Diffie, and Joe was signed in early 1990.

Meanwhile, Holly Dunn released “There Goes My Heart Again,” a song that Diffie co-wrote and sang backup vocals on.

Joe Diffie’s Career

• Joe Diffie started his professional career with the release of his debut album, “A Thousand Winding Roads” in 1990. The album included singles like “Home’ which reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
• He also performed his first concerts in late 1990, and later was named as “Male Vocalist of the Year” by Cash Box.

• In 1992, his second album, titled “Regular Joe”, was released. The album was itself a hit which was certified gold included singles like “Is It Cold in Here”, “Ships That Don’t Come In”, “Next Thing Smokin'”.
• His third album, “Honky Tonk Attitude” which shipped a million copies in the United States was released in 1993. It was certified platinum which included singles “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)”, “In My Own Backyard”.
• The same year, Diffie was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry and also won that year’s Country Music Association award for Vocal Event of the Year.
• Diffie’s highest-charting top country album, “Third Rock from the Sun” was released in 1994. The album included hit singles “Pickup Man”, “So Help Me Girl”, “I’m in Love with a Capital ‘U'” and “That Road Not Taken”.
• In mid-1995, he recorded the title track for Columbia Records’s “Runnin’ Wide Open”, also issued two albums, “Mr. Christmas” and “Life’s So Funny”.
• In 1996, “Twice Upon a Time”, Joe’s sixth album was released.

Highlight

• In mid-1998, Epic Records released Diffie’s “Greatest Hits”(the first greatest package) which earned the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for all artists involved.
• His final album for Epic Records, titled A Night to Remember, was released in 1999.
• His eighth album, “In Another World” was released which was his only album for Monument Records. Diffie was also inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
• Diffie signed to the independent Broken Bow Records in 2003. His only album for the label was, “Tougher Than Nails”.
• After he left Broken Bow, he began touring and in 2007, he joined with Lonestar, Charlie Daniels, and Craig Morgan to perform a benefit concert for Sgt. Kevin Downs.
• In 2008, he signed to Rounder Records which released “The Ultimate Collection”.
• In 2010, his tenth album, “Homecoming: The Bluegrass Album”, was released by Rounder.
• Diffie collaborated with Aaron Tippin and Sammy Kershaw on the album, “All in the Same Boat”.
• His last album, “Joe, Joe, Joe Diffie” was released in 2019.

Relationship

Joe Diffie was married three times in his life. Joe’s first marriage was to Janise Parker, whom he married in 1977 while still in college. Parker and Kara were the couple’s two children, but they divorced in 1986. In the mid-2000s, his son, Parker, worked as his on-road manager.

Debbie Jones, a nursing technician, was Diffie’s second wife when he married her in 1988. Drew and Tyler were their two sons. Tyler was born with Down syndrome and almost died as a result of complications from a tonsillectomy in 1991. He started an affair with Liz Allison, the widow of NASCAR racer Davey Allison, in 1993, and they divorced in 1996.

Diffie married Theresa Crump at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville in 2000, after meeting her at a concert. Kylie Tarissa, their only child, was born in 2004. He was with his last wife, Crump, at the time of his death.

How Tall was Joe Diffie?

Joe Diffie was a massive White man in his early 60s when he died. His hair and eyes were fair, and he had a fair complexion. He stood at 5ft. 11inches tall.