- Source of Wealth: Music
- Birth Place: Oildale, California, United States
- Height: 1.75 m (5′ 9″)
- Weight: 63 kg (138.89 lbs)
- Marital Status: Married (Theresa Ann Lane)
- Full Name: Merle Ronald Haggard
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: April 6, 1937
- Occupation: Musician, Songwriter and Singer
- Education: Preston School of Industry
- Children: 6 (Ben, Noel, Marty, Jenessa, Dana and Kelli)
Merle Haggard is an American country singer, songwriter, guitarist and instrumentalist with a net worth of $40 million. He co-founded the band ‘The Strangers’ and transformed country music totally. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Merle released a number of successful albums. In 1994, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and in 1997 he gained entry into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
Haggard and his band ‘The Strangers’ created the Bakersfield sound which is a unique mix of traditional steel guitar sound and new styles of vocal harmony where the words are minimal. By the 1970s, Haggard became involved with growing outlaw country movement and continued to release albums which tasted reasonable success.
Merle Haggard has married as many as five times and he has four children with his first wife and two children with his 5th wife. He started smoking marijuana at the age of 41 but quit the habit in 1995. He quit smoking cigarettes in 1991. Haggard underwent a surgery for lung cancer in 2008 but within less than two months after this surgery, he played two shows at Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace on Jan 2 & 3, 2009. Since then, he continues to record and tour.