Background
Bonnie Campbell was born in Blanchard, Oklahoma.
Bonnie Campbell was born in Blanchard, Oklahoma.
She met Buck Owens when she was only 15. They played in a band in Mesa, Arizona, married in 1948 and moved to Bakersfield, California by 1951. They later divorced, but the move to Bakersfield jump-started both their music careers.
Bonnie Owens"s first recording was A Dear John Letter, a duet with Fuzzy Owen on March-Vel Records (#Move Files -102) about 1950.
Side B contains the song “Wonderful World”. Bonnie and Fuzzy’s A Dear John Letter is not a remake of the 1953 Jean Shepard/Ferlin Husky version as some believe, as theirs predates Shepard/Husky by three years.
Owens recorded on numerous labels during the 1950s and early 1960s including Merle Haggard’s and Fuzzy Owen"s own Tally label, all of which were singles. Her first album titled Don’t Take Advantage Of Maine came in 1965 on Capitol Records # System Technologies-2403.
Owens 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 Maine.
In 1965 Haggard and Owens recorded the song Just Between the Two of Us, a duet and probably Owens"s best known hit. lieutenant is also the title song to their 1966 duet album on Capitol Records (#System Technologies-2453). Owens was named “Female Vocalist Of The Year” in 1965 by the Academy of Country Music.
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, underlining new star. She was 76 years old.