Who Is Merle Haggard? Age, Biography and Wiki
Merle Haggard was born on April 6, 1937, in Oildale, California, and sadly passed away on April 6, 2016. Renowned for his profound influence on country music, he represented the voice of the common man with songs like "Okie from Muskogee" and "Mama Tried." His life was marked by both struggles and triumphs, starting from his challenging childhood, which included his family facing economic hardships during the Great Depression, to becoming an icon in the music industry. Haggard’s work was deeply personal, often reflecting his experiences with imprisonment and his observations on life and society.
| Occupation | Country Singer |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | April 6, 1937 |
| Age | 79 Years |
| Birth Place | Oildale, California, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Aries |
| Country | U.S |
| Date of death | 6 April, 2016 |
| Died Place | N/A |
Popularity
Merle Haggard's Popularity over time
Height, Weight & Measurements
- Height: 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm)
- Weight: 160 lbs (73 kg)
- Body Measurements: Not widely documented, but he maintained a fit and lean physique throughout his career.
Haggard received many honors and awards, including a Kennedy Center Honor (2010); a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2006); a BMI Icon Award (2006); and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977); Country Music Hall of Fame (1994) and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame (1997). He died of pneumonia on April 6, 2016—his 79th birthday—at his ranch in Shasta County, California.
Family, Dating & Relationship Status
Merle Haggard's relationships were complex and often intertwined with his music career. He was married five times, with his most notable relationship being with his last wife, Theresa Lane, whom he married in 1993. The couple remained together until his passing in 2016. Haggard had several children from his marriages, contributing to a large and blended family.
As of 2025, interest in his family life continues, not only due to his musical legacy but also because of the stories shared by his children about their father, the man behind the music.
They settled with their two elder children, James 'Lowell' (1922–1996) and Lillian, in an apartment in Bakersfield, while James started working for the Santa Fe Railroad. A woman who owned a boxcar in nearby Oildale asked Haggard's father about the possibility of converting it into a house.
Net Worth and Salary
At the time of his passing, Merle Haggard's estimated net worth was around $40 million. His earnings came from various sources, including record sales, concert tours, and songwriting royalties, which have continued to earn posthumous revenue due to the ongoing popularity of his music. Even in 2025, his estate remains profitable, as his songs continue to resonate with fans old and new.
In July 2007, a three-and-a-half-mile stretch of 7th Standard Road in Oildale, California, where Haggard grew up, was renamed Merle Haggard Drive in his honor. It stretches from North Chester Avenue west to U.S. Route 99 and provides access to the William M. Thomas airport terminal at Meadows Field Airport.
Haggard played two shows to raise money to pay for the changes in road signage. In 2015, the converted boxcar in which the Haggard family lived in Oildale was moved to the Kern County Museum for historic preservation and restoration.
Career, Business and Investments
Haggard's career spanned several decades, during which he released over 38 studio albums and wrote more than 250 songs. He was not only a performer but also an influential songwriter and guitarist. His music embraced themes of love, hardship, and the American spirit, earning him numerous awards, including Grammy Awards and a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In addition to his music career, Haggard managed several successful business ventures, including a line of merchandise and chronicling his life in autobiographies that have provided deeper insights into his personal and professional life.
Haggard overcame a troubled childhood, criminal convictions and time in prison to launch a successful country music career. He gained popularity with his songs about the working class; these occasionally contained themes contrary to the anti–Vietnam War sentiment of some popular music of the time.
Between the 1960s and the 1980s, Haggard had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts, several of which also made the Billboard all-genre singles chart. He continued to release successful albums into the 2000s.
Social Network
Although Haggard is no longer alive, his legacy continues to thrive on social media platforms where fans share music videos, tributes, and memories. His official social media accounts, run by his family, provide updates about releases of unreleased songs and archival footage, keeping his spirit alive in the digital age.
In the ensuing years, Haggard gave varying statements regarding whether he intended the song as a humorous satire or a serious political statement in support of conservative values. In a 2001 interview, Haggard called the song a "documentation of the uneducated that lived in America at the time".
However, he made several other statements suggesting that he meant the song seriously. On the Bob Edwards Show, he said, "I wrote it when I recently got out of the joint. I knew what it was like to lose my freedom, and I was getting really mad at these protesters. They didn't know anything more about the war in Vietnam than I did.
I thought how my dad, who was from Oklahoma, would have felt.
I felt I knew how those boys fighting in Vietnam felt." In the country music documentary series Lost Highway, he elaborated: "My dad passed away when I was nine, and I don't know if you've ever thought about somebody you've lost and you say, 'I wonder what so-and-so would think about this?' I was drivin' on Interstate 40 and I saw a sign that said
'19 Miles to Muskogee', while at the same time listening to radio shows of The World Tomorrow hosted by Garner Ted Armstrong.
Muskogee was always referred to in my childhood as 'back home.' So I saw that sign and my whole childhood flashed before my eyes and I thought, 'I wonder what dad would think about the youthful uprising that was occurring at the time, the Janis Joplins... I understood 'em, I got along with it, but what if he was to come alive at this moment?
And I thought, what a way to describe the kind of people in America that are still sittin' in the center of the country sayin', 'What is goin' on on these campuses?'", as it was the subject of this Garner Ted Armstrong radio program.
"And a week or so later, I was listening to Garner Ted Armstrong, and Armstrong was saying how the smaller colleges in smaller towns don't seem to have any problems. And I wondered if Muskogee had a college, and it did, and they hadn't had any trouble - no racial problems and no dope problems.
The whole thing hit me in two minutes, and I did one line after another and got the whole thing done in 20 minutes." In the American Masters documentary about him, he said, "That's how I got into it with the hippies...
I thought they were unqualified to judge America, and I thought they were lookin' down their noses at something that I cherished very much, and it pissed me off.
And I thought, 'You sons of bitches, you've never been restricted away from this great, wonderful country, and yet here you are in the streets bitchin' about things, protesting about a war that they didn't know any more about than I did. They weren't over there fightin' that war any more than I was."
Education
Merle Haggard's formal education was limited after he dropped out of school in his teenage years. However, much of his education came through life experiences, particularly during his time spent in San Quentin State Prison, where he found his passion for music and songwriting. His self-taught skills in music led him to become one of the most influential figures in country music history.
"Okie From Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", and "I Wonder If They Think of Me" (Haggard's 1973 song about an American POW in Vietnam) were hailed as anthems of the silent majority, and have been recognized as part of a recurring patriotic trend in American country music that also includes Charlie Daniels' "In America" and Lee Greenwood's "God
Bless the USA".
Although Gordon Friesen of Broadside magazine criticized Haggard for his " [ John ] Birch–type songs against war dissenters", Haggard was popular with college students in the early 1970s, not only because of the ironic use of his songs by counterculture members, but also because his music was recognized as coming from an early country-folk tradit
ion.
Both "Okie from Muskogee" and "The Fightin' Side of Me" received extensive airplay on underground radio stations, and "Okie" was performed in concert by protest singers Arlo Guthrie and Phil Ochs.
