Friday, July 3, 2026

Joe Diffie, 61, Country Superstar from the 90s, Hits Included “Third Rock from the Sun,” “Home,” “Pick Up Man”

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This stuff is getting serious. I never thought I’d be writing so man=y obits in a short period. We must take this virus seriously.

Now it’s claimed a great country superstar, Joe Diffie, who was 61 and a country radio staple in the 80s and 90s. His 18 country hits included “Third Rock from the Sun,” “Home,” “Pick Up Man,” “If the Devil Danced (In Empty Pockets),” “Bigger Than the Beatles,” “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)” and “John Deere Green.”

There are outpourings of love for Joe all over social media. “Soul Man” Sam Moore tells me: “Joe Diffie and I became buddies all the way back when I recorded “Rainy Night in Georgia” with Conway Twitty. I had the great pleasure of singing with him at the Ryman and the Opry. I even did a cameo in one of his videos. His loss is shocking from this damn virus is shocking and shaken myself, my wife and my daughter Michelle, who had done a lot of TV production with him on his specials and videos.”

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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