Merle Haggard Dead at 79

Country legend Merle Haggard has died, Bakersfield, California TV station ABC 23 reports. He was 79 years old. Today was his birthday. Earlier this year he was hospitalized due to pneumonia. TMZ reports that he died at home this morning. Update 3:40: p.m.: Haggard’s son, Ben Haggard, has posted on Facebook. “A week ago dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday, and he wasn’t wrong,” he wrote. Read his full message below.

Haggard was born in 1937 near Bakersfield, California. His father died when he was young. Throughout his youth, he spent time in juvenile detention centers, and throughout the 1950s, he spent a significant amount of time in jail. (He was an inmate at San Quentin when Johnny Cash performed there.) Haggard’s first top 20 hit, “Sing Me a Sad Song,” was released in 1963. His first No. 1 single was 1965′s “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive.” By 1967, Haggard was a huge country star with 37 songs charting in the Top 10 that year. His 1969 single “Okie From Muskogee” went No. 1 and stirred controversy for its anti-hippie sentiments. He would go on to have 40 No. 1 country singles. Classic Haggard songs include “Mama Tried,” “The Bottle Let Me Down,” and “The Fightin’ Side of Me.”

Since the 1960s, Haggard has been a fixture in country music, recording and performing consistently over the years. Along with his band the Strangers, he’s considered one of the most instrumental artists in establishing the Bakersfield sound. His last album was 2015′s Django and Jimmie—a collaboration with his longtime friend Willie Nelson. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994. He received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2010, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

Haggard’s songs have been covered by the Grateful Dead, Dolly Parton, the Byrds, Emmylou Harris, and countless others.

Ben Haggard’s message:

Comments are closed.