Country music icon and co-host of television's Hee Haw, Buck Owens, has died at his home in Bakersfield, California. He was 76. Owens died in his sleep, just hours after performing at his concert hall and restaurant, Buck Owens' Crystal Palace.

Owens was considered to be a maverick honky-tonk singer and he is credited with pioneering a shift in country music. The "Bakersfield sound" was a raw and electrified version of the string-heavy sound that dominated Nashville in the 1960s.

Born Alvis Edgar Owens in Sherman, Texas, he was the son of a sharecropper. For the first few years of his life, his family was extremely poor. In the late 1930s, his family decided to make the move to California as part of the Dust Bowl migration, but they ended up settling in Arizona, near Phoenix, after their trailer broke down. Owens's early years were hard ones. He worked in cotton and maize fields, and eventually he dropped out of school around the ninth grade.

He began playing the guitar and he eventually moved to the San Joaquin Valley in California, settling in Bakersfield, in 1951. He made his break into the local music scene as a member of the honky-tonk band Bill Woods and the Orange Blossom Playboys. However, In the late 1950's, Owens became worried that his future as a recording artist was uncertain. He decided to move to the Tacoma, Washington area where he worked as a radio disc jockey and advertising salesman. His love of music never left him and he kept on writing songs. It wasn't long before he recordedUnder Your Spell Again, a hit that rose to the top of the charts, the first of many including I've Got a Tiger by the Tail, Together Again, Act Naturally, Cryin' Time, Waitin' in Your Welfare Line, and Love's Gonna Live Here. Owens had 19 consecutive No. 1 hits between 1963 and 1967 and 14 other top 10 records.

Owens went on to co-host the country comedy series Hee Haw from 1969 to 1986. While the show increased his exposure to a wider audience, Owens found that his role was damaging his identity. During his time with Hee Haw, Owens also devoted himself to his mini-empire, which included radio stations in Bakersfield and Phoenix, developing a reputation as a savvy entrepreneur.

Owens is survived by three sons.