Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight to feature Buck Owens [VIDEO]

We begin another month of country classic spotlights. You can find us at 98.1 FM Minnesota’s New Country, online and on your mobile device. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He’s known as Buck Owens and he ruled the country music scene in the mid-1960s.

Buck Owens had dozens of chart-topping singles. His first number one hit was “Act Naturally” in 1963, a pop hit covered by the Beatles in 1965. That was followed by “My Heart Skips a Beat,” “Together Again” and his biggest hit, “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” -- number one for five weeks. Then came “Buckaroo,” “Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line” and “Tall Dark Strangers.”

Owens' backing band was the Buckaroos. He became a fixture on television through the success of “Hee Haw.” That program began in 1969 on CBS. He was the co-host with Roy Clark. CBS cancelled Hee Haw in 1971 and the show moved to syndication. Owens left the show in 1986.

In the '60s, he bought several radio stations including KNIX AM later became KCWW and KNIX FM in Phoenix, Arizona and KUZZ FM in Bakersfield, California.

Owens was married four times -- three ending in divorce and one in annulment. He and his first wife -- country singer Bonnie Campbell-Owens -- married in 1948. Owens fathered three sons. Owens died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack on March 25, 2006 -- he was 76 years old. He was interred at Greenlawn Cemetery Bakersfield, California.