25 March
2006 Chatmag News.
Buck Owens, Of
"Hee Haw", Dead at Age 76. Owens, who along with Roy Clark, co-hosted the
homespun humor TV program "Hee Haw" 1969 to 1986.
Owens was born
in 1929 in Sherman, Texas, and began his musical career at age 16, playing
in taverns.
In 1951, he moved
to Bakersfield, California, which was to become his home town. Owens in
later years owned several businesses in Bakersfield and Phoenix, Arizona,
including TV and radio stations.
From Buckowens.com:
BUCK OWENS PASSES
AWAY
03-25-2006 KUZZ
Radio owner and Country Music Hall of Fame musician Alvis E. "Buck" Owens
died early Saturday morning at his Bakersfield, CA home. His family says
Buck died in his sleep and the cause of death is not yet known. Buck was
born on August 12, 1929 in Sherman, Texas. The son of a sharecropper, Buck
traveled with his family to the Phoenix, Arizona area in 1937 as they searched
for a better life. Eventually, they traveled to California's San Joaquin
Valley, doing farm work. At a young age Buck vowed that when he grew up,
he would not be poor. He found a way out of his family's poverty through
his musical talent.
That talent blossomed
after Buck moved to Bakersfield in 1951. Within months he was a member
of the hottest honky-tonk band in town, Bill Woods & The Orange Blossom
Playboys, who held forth at the legendary Blackboard night club. He began
playing a Fender Telecaster guitar, which provided a unique new sound in
country music. Soon he was playing for recording sessions at Capitol Records.
His first session as a leader came in 1957, but the session produced no
hits
Shortly thereafter,
Buck began his other career, as a broadcaster. He moved to the Tacoma,
Washington suburb of Puyallup and bought part-interest in a radio station,
where he worked as a DJ and ad salesman as well as playing gigs in the
area. He also had a live TV show in Tacoma.
Buck's first Top
10 record, "Under Your Spell Again," was released in 1959. In 1960, he
sold his interests in Washington state and returned to Bakersfield, which
was his home until he died. From 1962 to 1968 Buck released a series of
#1 records that established him as one of the greatest country entertainers
of all time.
---Chatmag News
Staff--
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