The country music singer fell ill with pneumonia in December 2015, postponing multiple concerts as he recovered in a California hospital. Three months later, Haggard was hospitalized again amid his ongoing battle with double pneumonia.
After the news broke of Merle’s death, his sonBen Haggard revealed that his famous father predicted his own death.
“A week ago Dad told us he was gonna pass on his birthday, and he wasn’t wrong,” Ben, then 22, wrote via Facebook at the time. “[An] hour ago he took his last breath surrounded by family and friends. He loved everything about life and he loved that everyone [sic] of you gave him a chance with his music.”
Merle was survived by his wife, Theresa Ann Lane—whom he married in September 1993—and his six children. He shared Dana, Marty, Kelli and Noel with ex-wife Leona Hobbs and Jenessa and Ben with Lane. (Two years after her father’s death, Dana died in her sleep on April 10, 2018, at age 61.)
Born on April 6, 1937, in Oildale, California, Merle launched his music career following his 1960 release from San Quentin Prison, where he served nearly three years for attempted robbery. He earned his first top 10 song with 1964’s “(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers” and his first No. 1 single with 1966’s “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive.”
A decade after Merle’s death, he remains one of the most iconic artists in country music history. Cody Johnson paid tribute to the late singer with the Monday, April 6, release of his cover of “Footlights,” the opening track from Merle’s 1979 album, Serving 190 Proof.
In a 2025 interview, Johnson shared the emotional impact Merle’s death had on him as a fan, telling RFD-TV’s On the Record at the time, “He’s still the only artist that has ever passed away that I’ve cried like he was a family member.”
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