His longtime booking agent, Carrie Moore-Reed, no relation to the star, said Reeddied early Monday.
"He's one of the greatest entertainers in the world. That's the way I feel abouthim," Moore-Reed said.
Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante called Reed a larger-than-lifepersonality.
"Everything about Jerry was distinctive: his guitar playing, writing, voice andespecially his sense of humor," Galante said. "I was honored to have worked with him."
Reed's catalog of country chart hits, from 1967 through 1983, were released underthe label group's RCA imprint.
As a singer in the 1970s and early 1980s, Reed had a string of hits that included Amos Moses, When You're Hot, You're Hot, East Bound and Down, She Got the Goldmine (I Got theShaft) and The Bird.
In the mid-1970s, he began acting in movies such as Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds, usually as a good ol' boy. But he was an orneryheavy in Gator, directed by Reynolds, and a hateful coach in 1998's The Waterboy, starring Adam Sandler.
Reynolds gave him a shiny black 1980 Trans Am like the one they used in Smokey and the Bandit.
Reed and Kris Kristofferson paved the way for Nashville music personalities to makeinroads into films. Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers (TV movies) followed theirlead.
"I went around the corner to motion pictures," he said in a 1992 AP interview.
Reed had quadruple bypass surgery in June 1999.
Born in Atlanta, Reed learned to play guitar at age 8 when his mother bought him a$2 guitar and showed him how to play a G-chord.
He dropped out of high school to tour with Ernest Tubb and Faron Young.
At 17, he signed his first recording contract, with Capitol Records.
He moved to Nashville in the mid-1960s where he caught the eye of Chet Atkins.
He first established himself as a songwriter. Elvis Presley recorded two of hissongs, U.S. Male and Guitar Man (both in 1968). He also wrote the hit A Thing Called Love, which was recorded in 1972 by Johnny Cash. He also wrote songs forBrenda Lee, Tom Jones, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole and the Oak Ridge Boys.
Reed was voted instrumentalist of the year in 1970 by the Country MusicAssociation.
He won a Grammy Award for When You're Hot, You're Hot in 1971. A year earlier, he shared a Grammy with Chet Atkinsfor their collaboration, Me and Jerry. In 1992, Atkins and Reed won a Grammy for Sneakin' Around.
Singer-guitarist Brad Paisley said Reed was one of country music's most influentialplayers.
"Anyone who picks a country guitar knows of his mastery of the instrument - one ofthe most inspirational stylists in the history of country music, a complete master," Paisley said."I'm in debt to him for paving the way for myself and the other guitarists of today."
Reed continued performing on the road into the late 1990s, doing about 80 shows ayear.
"I'm proud of the songs, I'm proud of things that I did with Chet (Atkins), I'mproud that I played guitar and was accepted by musicians and guitar players," he told the AP in1992.
In a 1998 interview with The Tennessean, he admitted that his acting ability was questionable.
"I used to watch people like Richard Burton and Mel Gibson and think, `I couldnever do that.'
"When people ask me what my motivation is, I have a simple answer: money."
