Tributes pour in after Glen Campbell’s death
Glen Campbell, the grinning, high-pitched entertainer whose dozens of hit singles included “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Wichita Lineman” and whose appeal spanned country, pop, television and movies, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 81.
Campbell’s family said the singer died Tuesday morning in Nashville and publicist Sandy Brokaw confirmed the news. No cause was immediately given. Campbell announced in June 2011 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and that it was in its early stages at that time.
“Glen is one of the greatest voices there ever was in the business and he was one of the greatest musicians,” said Dolly Parton in a video statement. “He was a wonderful session musician as well. A lot of people don’t realize that. But he could play anything and he could play it really well.”
In the late 1960s and well into the ‘70s, the Arkansas native seemed to be everywhere. He won five Grammys, sold more than 45 million records, had 12 gold albums and 75 chart hits, including No. 1 songs with “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Southern Nights.”
His performance of the title song from “True Grit,” a 1969 release in which he played a Texas Ranger alongside Oscar winner John Wayne, received an Academy Award nomination. He twice won album of the year awards from the Academy of Country Music and was voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Seven years later, he received a Grammy for lifetime achievement.
Campbell had a weekly audience of some 50 million people for the “Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour,” on CBS from 1969 to 1972. He gained new fans decades later when the show, featuring his cheerful greeting “Hi I’m Glen Campbell,” was rerun on cable channel CMT.
“I did what my Dad told me to do — ‘Be nice, son, and don’t cuss. And be nice to people.’ And that’s the way I handled myself, and people were very, very nice to me,” Campbell told The Telegraph in 2011.
A sharecropper’s son, and one of 12 children, he was born outside of Delight, Arkansas, and grew up revering country music stars such as Hank Williams.
He was married four times and had eight children. As he would confide in painful detail, Campbell suffered for his fame and made others suffer as well. He drank heavily, used drugs and had in a turbulent relationship with country singer Tanya Tucker in the early 1980s.
He is survived by his wife, Kim; their three children, Cal, Shannon and Ashley; and his children from previous marriages, Debby, Kelli, Travis, Kane and Dillon. He had 10 grandchildren.
Oklahoma ties
Although Glen Campbell wasn’t born in Oklahoma, he collaborated with a number of high profile songwriters and performers from the Sooner State. Here are a few Okie connections to the late Campbell.
Elk City’s Jimmy Webb was the source for several popular Campbell cuts including “Galveston,” “Gentle on My Mind” and “Wichita Lineman,” Campbell’s first Top 10 hit.
Webb also produced and performed a touring multimedia concert called the “Glen Campbell Years” which illuminated his musical kinship with Campbell. He spoke with The Oklahoman about visiting his friend while he battled Alzheimer’s.
“The ravages of this disease are almost more than you take in one visit,” Webb said in a 2015 interview. “It was a sobering experience. It sort of solidified my determination to go out and do what I could to show what an extraordinary man he is.”
Although Campbell stopped performing in 2012, he released a final studio album called “Adios” in June. Webb, Erick-bred songwriter Roger Miller and Oklahoma City’s Vince Gill make appearances on the record.
Rolling Stone reported that fellow Wrecking Crew member and late Tulsan Leon Russell called Campbell “the best guitar player I’d heard before or since. Occasionally we’d play with 50 or 60-piece orchestras. His deal was he didn’t read (music), so they would play it one time for him, and he had it.”
Also, Russell joined Campbell in the house band for the short-lived “ABC Shindig!” music series.
Campbell cracked the Top 20 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart back in 1971 with a song called “Oklahoma Sunday Morning.”