[2] He was a session musician and played the rhythm guitar for Duane Eddy, Nancy Sinatra, Elvis Presley and many others.
After high school he joined the United States Air Force and became an Airman First Class.
[7] In 1958, Owens and the Ben Denton singers released the EP Out of My Heart in Sweden on the London Records label.
[7] To promote his albums, Owens made appearance on numerous radio and TV shows.
On November 2, 1958, Owens was featured on the Len Graham Record Hop[14] and on January 14, 1959, he performed on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.
[7] The same year Owens also released the promo single “No Love Lost”/’I Forgot About You” on Project Records.
[16] In 1966, Owens wrote and released the single “Heart Attack” with B-side “Loneliness of Hurt” (written by Jimmy Gray) on the Ramco label.
[19] Donnie Owens wrote songs for a number of other recording artists, including Budd the Spudd and the Sprouts, Virgil Warner, Johnny Wakely, Ray Sharpe, Sanford Clark and Mac Wiseman.
In 2001, Duane Eddy, Donnie Owens, and Sanford Clark were featured in a compilation album called The Twang Gang released by Jamie Records (CAT#4017).
[23][24] He performed for almost five years as Donnie Owens and the 4 Jacks at Harry’s Capri Lounge in Phoenix, Arizona.
[25] In 1966, Owens was hired as executive producer of the Country & Western music division of LHI Records[2] and produced albums for artists such as Barney Carl, Virgil Warner, Linda Owens, Honey Ltd., Suzi Jane Hokom, Buddy Long, Sanford Clark, Lee Hazlewood, Ann-Margret, Danny Michaels, Jimmie Lee Morris, and Joe Cannon.