Being the son of the famous country singer Merle Haggard has created many challenges for Marty Haggard. Raised in a boxcar by his grandmother, Marty Haggard was already quite a country music star by the time he was 12 years old. In his teens, he managed to begin an acting career, was in a TV series, and was involved in the formative stages of a Henry Fonda movie. His acting career ended when he picked up a hitchhiker who shot him and left him in the desert for dead. He somehow drove himself back to civilization while first gaining and then losing consciousness. A long recovery followed.
In 1979, Haggard began his formal career as a country music singer and toured with his own band. In 1981, he signed with Dimension Records and cut his first single, "Charleston Cotton Mill." He traveled with his father's band from 1983 to 1985, but missed having his own personal career so returned to Nashville in 1985.
In 1986, Haggard signed with MTM Records. The label released Trains Make Me Lonesome, which won him a nomination by the Academy of Country Music as Top New Male Vocalist. In 1988, just as he was being acknowledged as one of the hottest up-and-coming country stars, Haggard again had a physical disaster when he was thrown through the windshield of his car and incurred serious head injuries and memory loss. It was almost four years before he regained his memory, motor skills, and ability to function.
In 1995, after Haggard signed with the Critique/BMG label, he felt strongly that he needed to return to God and walked out on the album he was recording to begin seeking how to serve his Lord. Critique released both the album Borders & Boundaries and the single "Amnesia" in 1996. After more than a year in California, Haggard went to Conway, AR, to begin his spiritual/singing ministry in July of 1998.
Haggard's success in this chosen direction is evidenced by his multiple appearances on Nashville Now, the Trinity Broadcasting Network, Music City Tonight, Crook & Chase, and at the Grand Ole Opry. He also appeared on The Today Show and was featured in People magazine. He formed his own in-house Marty Haggard Music in 1998 and two albums under that imprint, Ready or Not and The Bridge, appeared in 2000. Haggard next signed with Mansion, the recording imprint of Branson’s Mansion Theatre, and a second coming of The Bridge was released in 2010. ~ Eleanor Ditzel & Steve Leggett, Rovi
