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• Merle Haggard is a Country music singer, songwriter and guitarist who is known for being a member of the "Outlaw" country movement of the 1970s alongside legends such as Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.

• Fast Facts

  1. Name: Merle Ronald Haggard
  2. Nickname: The Hag
  3. Born: April 6, 1937
  4. Hometown: Bakersfield, California
  5. Debut album Strangers (1965)
  6. Studio albums: 76
  7. Compilation albums: 48
  8. Singles: 96
  9. Awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
  10. Had surgery for a lung tumor in November 2008
  11. Had upper lobe of right lung removed
  12. In January 2009 said his recovery is going extremely wellPeople: Merle Haggard Doing "Better Every Day" After Lung Cancer Surgery (January 21, 2009)

• Cancer

  Haggard underwent surgery in November 2008 to have a lemon sized tumor removed from his lung. Two months after his surgery, Haggard made this statement about his health, "I'm doing real well, a little better every day. I have a little bicycle in the back room I'm starting to exercise on and I'm going into the studio to see how my voice sounds." Merle added this about his surgery, "I lost the upper lobe of my right lung where there was a tumor suspended like a fruit on a tree. But there was no chemo and I got real lucky."People: Merle Haggard Doing 'Better Every Day' (January 21, 2009)

• History

  After a troubled childhood in Bakersfield, California in which he was in and out of prison several times, Haggard cleaned up his act after seeing Johnny Cash's performance at San Quentin and started working on his own musical career. Haggard's 1969 hit "Okie from Muskogee" became a massive hit and was a direct reaction to the counterculture movement of the era. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Haggard continued to write and record music, ending up with 42 #1 hit songs and cementing his reputation as one of the titans of modern Country music.

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