Buck Owens

Birth Name:

Alvis Edgar Owens

Birth Place:

Sherman, Texas, United States

Profession

Soundtrack, Actor, Producer

Joined the house band at the Blackboard, the center of the burgeoning country music scene in Bakersfield, Calif․, after moving to the city in 1951
Picked cotton with his family as a child, and traveled west with them at the age of 8 to seek employment as agricultural workers, along with millions of others from the Cotton Belt
When he was a teenager, he started playing in Arizona bars for tips
Quote: "When anybody asks to do something now, the first think I look for is where the fun is․ If it's there, then we can talk about the deal․"
Quote: "[on Don Rich] "I don't think there have ever been two people in this business closer than Don and I․ It's like we could read each other's minds․""
Brought a Californian twist to country music in the 1950s and 1960s
His No․ 1 country singles include "Act Naturally," "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail" and "Streets of Bakersfield․"
Was one of the musicians who field-tested Fender's solid-body electric guitars
Won the rights to his own master recordings from Capitol Records
Just hours before dying in his sleep, he performed on the stage of Buck Owens' Crystal Palace with the Buckaroos

Fast Facts