Sausage king and country star dies at 81

Country music singer and founder of the Jimmy Dean brand of breakfast foods, Jimmy Dean, passed away on June 13 at the age of 81.

Dean launched the Jimmy Dean Meat Co. in the late 1960s, according to reports, he was looking to create a quality sausage. He sold the company to what later would become the Sara Lee Corp. in 1984 and remained as chairman of the board and was the brand's spokesman until 2003.