Country music great Merle Haggard died Wednesday morning after a battle with pneumonia, according to his manager.
Haggard spent 11 days at Eisenhower Medical Center in Riverside, California, earlier this year, and last week he canceled his April shows in an effort to fully recover from a long battle with pneumonia, TMZ reported. RELATED:Merle Haggard returns to Calif. home to recuperate Haggard, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1994, was perhaps best known for “Okie From Muskogee,” his hit in 1969, Nashville’s WSMV reported. April 6 was Haggard’s 79th birthday, and he had reportedly told friends that he would die on that day, TMZ added.