Bonnie Owens

Apart from her solo career, singer Bonnie Owens is well known for the work she did with her former husbands, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Born Bonnie Campbell on October 1, 1932, in Oklahoma City to a pair of sharecroppers and one of eight children, she first met Buck in the mid-'40s when he had a local daily 15-minute radio show. Once Buck discovered that Bonnie could sing, he helped her get a job with him on another radio show in 1947. The following January, Buck and Bonnie married, but the union was short-lived. By 1951, after giving birth to two sons, the marriage was over. Since neither could afford a divorce, they stayed legally married, but separated, for several years. Bonnie and the two boys left for Bakersfield, where she worked as a cocktail waitress. It was during this period that Bonnie met Fuzzy Owen and guitarist Roy Nichols, who would be instrumental in the career of Haggard.

By the late '50s Bonnie was recording on the Mar-Vel label with Fuzzy and his band, the Sun Valley Playboys. She cut a well-received duet album with Fuzzy, her sometime boyfriend, on Tally Records, which would later be re-released on Capitol Records as "Just Between the Two of Us." In 1961, Bonnie saw Haggard singing for the first time at a Lefty Frizzell concert. At the time, Haggard was just a few months out of San Quentin prison for breaking and entering. By 1964 Fuzzy was managing Haggard and suggested that Bonnie and Haggard re-record "Just Between the Two of Us." Taking Fuzzy's advice paid off; the song hit the top of the country charts but not for long. It was replaced by "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers," Haggard's breakthrough single.

In 1965 Haggard signed with Capitol Records, married Bonnie, and signed the Strangers (including Bonnie) with a booking agency owned in part by Buck. Bonnie's marriage to Haggard lasted until 1978, but the two had already separated in 1975. Eventually Bonnie resumed touring with the Strangers in the late '70s and remarried for the final time to Fred McMillenher. She continued to tour regularly with Haggard and the Strangers. While Bonnie released half a dozen albums and numerous singles on Capitol Records in the mid- to late '60s, she remained satisfied singing backup as a member of the Strangers.

Ref. Al Campbell, All Music Guide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Owens

Bonnie Owens (October 1, 1929 – April 24, 2006), born Bonnie Campbell, was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later Merle Haggard.

Biography

Bonnie Campbell (no relation to Glen), born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, met Buck Owens when she was only 15. They played in a band in Mesa, Arizona and then later were married in 1951 and moved to Bakersfield, California. They eventually divorced but moving to Bakersfield jumpstarted both their careers in music.

Her first recording was a duet with Fuzzy Owen called "A Dear John Letter" and was on Mar-Vel Records #MV-102 and dates about 1950. Side B contained a song titled “Wonderful World”. Bonnie and Fuzzy’s “A Dear John Letter” was not a remake of the 1953 Jean Shepard/Ferlin Husky version as some believe, as theirs predated Shepard/Husky by 3 years.

Owens recorded on numerous labels during the 1950s and early 1960s including Merle Haggard’s and Fuzzy Owens own Tally label, all of which were singles. Her first album titled “Don’t Take Advantage Of Me” came in 1965 on Capitol Records # ST-2403.

Owens was named “Female Vocalist Of The Year” in 1965 by the Academy Of Country Music and she and Haggard were married that same year. From that point on Bonnie dedicated her time to Haggard’s children and his career, touring with Merle’s band The Strangers as a backup vocalist. During the early stages of Bonnie and Merle’s careers together, Bonnie was the headliner, and Merle, the up and coming (and underlining) new star.

Owens and Haggard divorced in 1978, and after a brief hiatus, she continued touring with him

She had hits on the country charts in the early 1960s with the songs "Why Don't Daddy Live Here Anymore?" and "Don't Take Advantage Of Me". In 1965 Haggard and Owens recorded the song called "Just Between the Two of Us", a duet hit and probably Owens' best known hit. It was also the title song to their 1966 duet album on Capitol Records #ST-2453.

In 2006, Owens died in a hospital, not even a month after her first husband Buck Owens had died. She was 76 years old.