John Prine, the US folk and country singer beloved of Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and more, has died aged 73 due to complications from Covid-19.

Prine was hospitalised on 26 March, and was in intensive care for 13 days before dying on Tuesday, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee. Prine’s family confirmed his death to several US media outlets including The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Variety.

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“We join the world in mourning the passing of revered country and folk singer/songwriter John Prine,” the Recording Academy said in a written statement. “Widely lauded as one of the most influential songwriters of his generation, John’s impact will continue to inspire musicians for years to come. We send our deepest condolences to his loved ones.”

On Twitter, Bruce Springsteen wrote: “We are crushed by the loss of John Prine. John and I were ‘New Dylans’ together in the early 70s and he was never anything but the loveliest guy in the world. A true national treasure and a songwriter for the ages.”

Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) Over here on E Street, we are crushed by the loss of John Prine. John and I were "New Dylans" together in the early 70s and he was never anything but the lovliest guy in the world. A true national treasure and a songwriter for the ages. We send our love and prayers to his family.

Prine was born and raised on the outskirts of Chicago, and, on either side of a spell in the US army working as a mechanic in Germany, had a day job as a mail carrier while playing guitar and writing songs as a hobby. At a Chicago open mic night, he was heard complaining about the lack of talent on stage and was challenged to do better by one of the performers; his rapturously received three-song set earned him a $1,000-a-weekend residency and allowed him to quit the postal service.

His career was given a boost by Kristofferson, who saw him play in Chicago. When Prine was visiting New York, Kristofferson invited him to play a gig for a room of record-label staff – Prine was signed to Atlantic Records the next morning. “Luck has a good deal to do with it, luck and timing,” he said of his swift success. “But when the luck and timing comes along, you’ve got to have the goods.”

He released his debut album in 1971, and put out 19 studio albums in all. While wider mainstream success eluded him for years, he earned a sizeable following, including some of the 20th century’s greatest songwriters. Bob Dylan said in 2009: “Prine’s stuff is pure Proustian existentialism. Midwestern mind trips to the nth degree. And he writes beautiful songs.” Bonnie Raitt has celebrated his songwriting as “deceptively insightful. It’s at once playing on words and imagery, but expressing something deeper in such a succinct way, in such an exceptional way.” Today, she said she was “crushed by the loss”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest John Prine pictured in 1975. Photograph: Tom Hill/WireImage

Johnny Cash once described him as one of his personal “big four” songwriters alongside Guy Clark, Steve Goodman and Rodney Crowell, while ex-Pink Floyd member Roger Waters called him “extraordinarily eloquent”.

Prine won two Grammy awards from 11 nominations, and was also given a lifetime achievement award at the 2020 ceremony. In 2016 he recorded a duets album For Better, or Worse with singers including Alison Krauss, Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert, and became his biggest chart hit then to date, reaching No 30 in the US charts. He outdid its success in 2018 with The Tree of Forgiveness, which reached No 5.

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Prine twice suffered from cancer. In 1996, he had part of his neck removed due to squamous cell carcinoma, and required speech therapy to be able to perform again. In 2013, he had lung cancer, and recovered following surgery.

He had a small role in the 2001 Billy Bob Thornton-directed movie Daddy and Them, and years earlier had met with Dustin Hoffman after a producer suggested they work together on screen despite Prine never having acted before. “Finally, [Hoffman] said: ‘Well, how did you get here? And I said, ‘I don’t know. Maybe somebody boinked your secretary’. I never heard from him again,” Prine remembered in his 2015 biography.

Further tributes were paid by filmmaker Michael Moore, astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Stephen King, who called him “one of the great ones”. Robert Plant described Prine as “a beacon of clear white light cutting through the dark days. His charm, humour and irony we shall miss greatly”. Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea heralded “all those warm songs that cut their own path through a tangled world”. Canadian singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith called him “a sort of Mark Twain figure. A humorist but mainly a humanist. He could make you laugh one moment and rip your heart open in the next.”