The musician passed away on 9 March (15) at his home in his native Ohio.

Born Gerald Warner Brightman, he rose to fame as a child star with a gift for the pedal steel guitar and became a member of Owens' backing band, The Buckaroos, in the early 1970s.

He recorded 16 albums with Owens before leaving the group in 1976 to move into the business side of the music industry. He was instrumental in launching long-running country music extravaganza, the Jamboree in the Hills festival, in 1975.