Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.

He gained popularity with his songs about the working class that occasionally contained conformist themes contrary to the prevailing anti-Vietnam War sentiment of the popular music of the time. Between the 1960s and the 1980s, he had 38 number-one hits on the US country charts. ... more