30 Facts About Buck Owens

Buck Owens was the frontman for The Buckaroos, which had 21 No 1 hits on the Billboard country music chart.

Buck Owens pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound, named in honor of Bakersfield, California, Owens's adopted home and the city from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call "American music".

From 1969 to 1986, Buck Owens co-hosted the popular CBS television variety show Hee Haw with Roy Clark.

Buck Owens is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Buck Owens was born August 12,1929 on a farm in Sherman, Texas, United States, to Alvis Edgar Buck Owens Sr.

Buck Owens's family moved to Mesa, Arizona, in 1937 during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.

Buck Owens quit school in the ninth grade in order to help work on his father's farm and pursue a music career.

Soon, Buck Owens was frequently traveling to Hollywood for session recording jobs at Capitol Records, playing backup for Tennessee Ernie Ford, Wanda Jackson, Tommy Collins, Tommy Duncan, and many others.

In 1958 Buck Owens met Don Rich in Steve's Gay 90s Restaurant in South Tacoma, Washington.

Buck Owens had observed one of Rich's shows and immediately approached him about collaborating, after which Rich began playing fiddle with Buck Owens at local venues.

In 1959, Buck Owens's career took off when his song "Second Fiddle" hit No 24 on the Billboard country chart.

The subsequent live album, Buck Owens and His Buckaroos in Japan, was an early example of a country band recording outside the United States.

Also between 1968 and 1970, Buck Owens made guest appearances on top TV variety programs, including The Dean Martin Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jackie Gleason Show and seven times on The Jimmy Dean Show.

Buck Owens's departure was a setback to the band, as Doyle had received the Bass Player of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music the year before and served as co-lead vocalist of the Buckaroos.

Buck Owens bought several radio stations, including KNIX and KNIX-FM in Phoenix and KUZZ-FM in Bakersfield.

Owens collaborated with Cledus T Judd on the song "The First Redneck On The Internet" in 1998, in which Owens appears in the music video.

Buck Owens's albums had been out of print for nearly 15 years when he released a retrospective box set in 1990.

Sometime in the 1970s, Buck Owens had purchased the remaining copies of his original LP albums from Capitol's distribution warehouses across the country.

Buck Owens often gave them away as gifts and sold them at his nightclub for a premium price some 35 years later.

Long before Buck Owens became the famous co-host of Hee Haw, his band became known for their signature Bakersfield sound, later emulated by artists such as Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, and Brad Paisley.

Buck Owens inspired indie country songwriter and friend Terry Fraley, whose band "The Nudie Cowboys" possessed a similar sound.

Buck Owens was married four times, three ending in divorce and one in annulment.

Buck Owens married country singer Bonnie Campbell Owens in 1948.

In 1956 Buck Owens married Phyllis Buford with whom he had a third son.

Buck Owens had three sons: Buddy Alan, Johnny, and Michael Buck Owens.

Buck Owens successfully recovered from oral cancer in the early 1990s, but had additional health problems near the end of the 1990s and the early 2000s, including pneumonia and a minor stroke in 2004.

Buck Owens died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack at his ranch just north of Bakersfield on March 25,2006, only hours after performing at his club.

Buck Owens was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996.

Buck Owens was ranked No 12 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.

Buck Owens was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.