Merle Haggard

merleHaggard: Merle Ronald Haggard, Country singer, songwriter and guitarist, was born on April 6, 1937 in Bakersfield, California to James Francis and Flossie Mae Haggard. Part of the Dust Bowl migration, Merle's parents and two siblings, Lillian Marie and James Lowell, moved from Oklahoma to Bakersfield during the Depression in 1935. Shortly after arriving in Bakersfield, the Haggard's lived with their three children in a converted railroad boxcar in an area known as Oildale. James Haggard died on June 19, 1946 in Los Angeles, California at the age of 47. Merle was just nine years old. At the age of 12, he taught himself to play the guitar. In the mid 1950s, Haggard went to a Lefty Frizzell concert in Bakersfield. He sang a couple of songs for Lefty before the show. Frizzell was so impressed, he allowed Haggard to sing at the concert. The audience loved Merle. After taking second place at a local talent contest, Haggard was asked to be a relief singer for Johnny Barnett’s band at the Lucky Spot.

Haggard married Leona Hobbs in 1956. In 1958, Merle Haggard began a 2 1/2-year term in San Quentin prison for burglary and attempted escape from a county jail. While in prison Haggard played in the prison's band and took high school equivalency courses. Haggard was pardoned for his crimes in 1972 by then California Governor Ronald Reagan.

merlehaggardJacket: In 1960, Fuzzy Owen prompted Haggard to record Skid Row on his cousin, Lewis Talley’s record label. In 1962, Haggard joined Wynn Stewart’s band playing in Las Vegas. Haggard heard Stewart perform Sing a Sad Song. He asked for permission to record the song. The single became a hit reaching #19 on the charts in 1964. Capitol Records bought out Haggard’s contract with Tally Records in 1965. Now signed to Capitol, he started recruiting musicians to form a backing band named The Strangers. Merle Haggard’s musical career has spanned six decades.

Although Haggard has at times struggled in his personal life, he has overcome those obstacles to achieve staggering success in his musical career. Haggard has released approximately 70 albums and 600 songs (a prolific songwriter he has written approximately 250 of the 600 songs released). He has won three Grammy awards, 10 Academy of Country Music awards and had 38 songs reach number one on the country music charts. In 1965 Haggard won the Academy of Country Music Awards Best New Male Vocalist and Best Vocal Duet (with Bonnie Owens). In 1970, Haggard was awarded the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year, Best Male Vocalist, Album of the Year and Single of the Year. He was elected to the Songwriters' Hall of Fame in 1977. In 1994, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (the only California born musician to achieve such an honor).


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