Buck Owens, one of the pioneers of today's country and the person who had popularized country music in the United States with a string of 1960s hits and a long-running TV show, died on Saturday. He was 76.

Owens' family said he died in his sleep at his home in Bakersfield, California, according to the website of a concert hall and restaurant he owned. The cause of death was not immediately known.

Born Aug 12, 1929, in Texas to a poor farming family, Alvis E. Owens moved to California in the early 1950s and created what became known as the Bakersfield Sound, a mix of honky-tonk, twangy electric guitar and rock influences.

He learned guitar and mandolin as he was growing up, and had his first radio programme as a teenager. His first top 10 record, "Under Your Spell Again", was released in 1959.

Best known for his 1963 chart-topper "Act Naturally", Owens had some 20 number one hits over the next decade that made his reputation as a country music legend.

His TV show "Hee Haw" ran from 1969 until 1993, the year Owens was diagnosed with throat cancer that cost him part of his tongue.