( CNN ) Country music star Little Jimmy Dickens , a fixture at the Grand Ole Opry for decades , died Friday of cardiac arrest after having a stroke on Christmas , the website for the famed music venue reported . Dickens , 94 , died at a hospital in Nashville , according to media reports . `` It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to my hero and friend today . I loved you Jimmy , '' Brad Paisley wrote on Twitter . Dickens joined the Opry , the showcase for country music , in 1948 . `` The Grand Ole Opry did not have a better friend than Little Jimmy Dickens , '' Opry Vice President and General Manager Pete Fisher said in a statement . `` He loved the audience and his Opry family , and all of us loved him back . He was a one-of-kind entertainer and a great soul whose spirit will live on for years to come . '' Dickens -- known for his diminutive stature , colorful rhinestone-studded jackets and keen sense of humor -- had several novelty hits , beginning in 1949 . `` May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose , '' `` Out Behind the Barn , '' and `` Take An Old Cold Tater ( And Wait ) '' are among his fans ' favorite tunes . Another is `` I 'm Little , But I 'm Loud . '' The 4-foot-11-inch artist was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983 . He is survived by his wife , Mona Dickens , and two daughters . `` I am deeply saddened . We have lost a precious treasure , '' tweeted Charlie Daniels . The Opry 's news release said plans were still being formed for a funeral , as well as a public viewing and service . Dickens was born in Bolt , West Virginia , the oldest of 13 children . In 2007 he told West Virginia Public Broadcasting that while his dad was a coal miner and the family was poor , they were never hungry . `` Nothing easy about coal mining for a living but we all got by , '' he said . `` There was more love in our family than the money . '' He said his grandparents raised him . His mother and uncles played guitars and banjos but none of them played professionally , he said . He got his start on a radio station in Beckley , according to a biography on the Hall of Fame website . He had a $ 12 guitar that he carried in a pillowcase and he got to sing a song or two each week . Eventually he 'd go out and sing with the stars of the station , he said . He was still in high school at the time . He moved on to a station in Cincinnati , where he was doing a morning show when country star Roy Acuff came for a visit in the 1940s . Acuff invited Dickens to sing a song in his show , which the star liked enough to help get Dickens an invitation to sing at the Opry even before he had a record . `` I went down there and did that and it worked for me , '' Dickens said . He said he wanted to be remembered for his honesty with his fans and coworkers and for his desire to always get better as a performer . People we lost : 2014 .
He first came to the famous Nashville music scene in 1965 . He often cracked jokes about his diminutive size .