COUNTRY star Roy Clark has died at age 85, according to his publicist.

Jeremy Westby said Clark died Thursday due to complications from pneumonia at his home in Tulsa, Okla.

The veteran star, 85, was an influential figure in country music and was also well-known for hosting the US variety show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1993.

He was born in Meherrin, Virginia on April 15, 1933 but his family moved later to Staten Island, New York and spent most of his teenage years in Washington DC, where is father worked at the Washington Navy Yard.

By the time he was 15 he had won two National Banjo Championships.

When he was 17 he made his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.

Clark played the guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin, harmonica and other instruments.

He became especially known for the Bakersfield sound in the 1950s and early 60s along with Buck Owens and Merle Haggard in reaction to the slick arrangements of the Nashville sound.

His skills brought him gigs as guest performer with many top orchestras, including the Boston Pops.

Clark published his autobiography My Life in Spite of Myself in 1994.

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009 and had a huge impact of generations of bluegrass and country musicians ranging from the likes of Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris and Dwight Yoakam to Keith Urban and Brad Paisley.

Clark was married to Barbara for 61 years. They had four children.