Marty Haggard (born June 18, 1958) is an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer. He is the son of singer-songwriter

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...

. Between 1981 and 1987, Haggard charted five singles on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, in addition to performing in his father's road band.

Biography

Marty Haggard was born June 18, 1958, in

Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

. He was named after

Marty Robbins Martin David Robinson (September 26, 1925 – December 8, 1982), known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, and NASCAR racing driver. Robbins was one of the most popular and suc ...

. At the time that Marty Haggard was born, his father,

, was serving time in

San Quentin State Prison San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...

. Marty Haggard was raised by his grandmother in a railroad boxcar, but by the time the younger Haggard was 12, he had moved in with his father. He began an acting career in his teens. He had a recurring role in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

drama ''

The Fitzpatricks ''The Fitzpatricks'' is an American drama series which ran on CBS during the 1977–78 season. Tim Brooks; Earle Marsh. The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946–Present'. 8th ed. Random House Digital; October 14, 20 ...

'', and a bit part in a TV movie starring

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor. He had a career that spanned five decades on Broadway and in Hollywood. He cultivated an everyman screen image in several films considered to be classics. Born and rai ...

. While driving to the filming location of the TV movie, he stopped for a hitchhiker who then shot him and left him for dead. A wounded Haggard drove for 15 miles before spotting a 13-year-old girl who called an ambulance for him. He recovered fully, but later developed an infection in the bullet wounds which required further surgery.

Musical career

Haggard toured with his sister in the Driftwood Band for three years. Later, he worked on an oil field. He signed with Dimension Records in 1979 and released one single, "Charleston Cotton Mill", which spent three weeks on the

charts in 1981. At his father's request, Haggard joined his road band, in which he sang harmony and played rhythm guitar. He decided to begin a solo career again in 1985. He then signed with

MTM Records MTM Records was an American independent record label specializing in country music. It was founded in 1984 as a subsidiary of the production company of the same name owned by actress Mary Tyler Moore. Howard Stark was the label's President, and ...

, for which he released four singles under the production of

Billy Strange William Everett Strange (September 29, 1930 – February 22, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and an actor. He was a session musician with the famed Wrecking Crew, and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and M ...

. The most successful of these was "Trains Make Me Lonesome", which peaked at number 57 on the country charts, and which helped him receive a nomination for Top New Male Vocalist from the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music ...

. "Trains Make Me Lonesome" was covered by

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...

on his 1992 album '' Holding My Own''. By 1986, Haggard was married for six years to Shree and had two daughters. After the MTM singles, Haggard was seriously injured in a car accident, suffering head injury and memory loss which required four years of recovery. He signed to Critique Records in 1995 and released his album "Borders & Boundaries. The singles off of that album were "Amnesia" and "Here in the Afterlife." After stopping at a church in

Conway, Arkansas Conway is a city in the U.S. state of Arkansas and the county seat of Faulkner County, located in the state's most populous Metropolitan Statistical Area, Central Arkansas. Although considered a suburb of Little Rock, Conway is unusual in that ...

, Haggard decided to take up music ministry, and went on to record his country-gospel albums titled "Ready or Not, Here He Comes" and "The Bridge. " Haggard has since married Tessa, and had one son named Jamey with her. He has also released two tribute albums to his father.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haggard, Marty 1958 births American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters American shooting survivors Country musicians from California Living people MTM Records artists Musicians from Bakersfield, California Singer-songwriters from California