Rhinestone Cowboy shines a light on Alzheimer’s
Glen Campbell will be remembered for how he made music history for decades. He took country music to new heights and became a global superstar. Sold more than 50 million records during his career, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Musician Hall of Fame, five-time musician of the year, eight Grammy Awards, singer of the year and, to top it off, a Grammy lifetime achievement award.
He was one of the finest recording stars in music. His appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson brought his music into the living rooms through mainstream TV. Anyone who was fortunate enough to see him perform live will never forget his onstage presence and singing along to his smash hits.
He will also be remembered for how he lived with Alzheimer’s disease. Emotionally depicted in the documentary movie, I’ll Be Me, Campbell serenaded his fans with a lifetime work of hits that bridged country and pop, and fell once again into the hearts of cheering audiences. I’ll Be Me tells the story of the Rhinestone Cowboy. His unforgettable goodbye tour. From Carnegie Hall in New York to the Hollywood Bowl, 425 days, 151 shows; tough for any professional musician let alone somebody in their mid-’70s dealing with the effects of a degenerative, cognitive and memory disease.
In 2015, the song, I’m Not Gonna Miss You, from the movie, was nominated for an Academy Award in the original-song category. That same year, Still Alice took home a best-actress Oscar for Julianne Moore’s portrayal of Alice Howling, the university linguistics professor who’s diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Two-thousand-and-fifteen will be remembered as the year Hollywood and the music industry trampled over the stigma of Alzheimer’s disease.
Campbell’s decision to publicly share his journey with his fans is an example of how the horrors of this debilitating condition can be approached with a different perspective. By coming out publicly and revealing his life-limiting illness, he has helped to debunk the social indignity of the disease that haunts many who live with the effects of being ostracized from everyday life.
While many, eventually, are admitted to nursing homes in their final months and sometimes live for years institutionalized, this narrative may be changing thanks to the spotlight that Campbell has shined onto how there is meaning, value and quality of life for people and their families dealing with the dreaded illness.
“You have Alzheimer’s disease.” This diagnosis is perhaps the most feared of the silent generation. The face of the disease for this cohort has been Campbell.
Living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia isn’t solely and completely a tragedy. For many, the voices of people living with dementia have been silenced. Campbell wrote a new storyline for aging gracefully no matter what challenge he faced. Life is a series of daily choices and when you can no longer decide for yourself and you’re cast away from what matters most to you, that is the greatest tragedy of all.
There was never a doubt that the ballads that Campbell sang would continue to fill music play lists. The cherry on the cake he served up is how he approached Alzheimer’s by stating emphatically, “I ain’t done yet, you can tell them that!”
His admiring fans included the likes of Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and U2 guitarist The Edge. To have a severe cognitive impairment and be out there on stage with your fans is pretty brave. The reviews from the tour were superlative: “fantastic,” “unbelievable” and “magical.” People didn’t go to the concerts to see their accomplished star crash and burn, they went to see a musical legend and that is what they got.
The lesson we can all take away from Campbell is that he approached Alzheimer’s disease like he approached life — that you can take on anything you’re up against if you have a positive attitude and a good sense of humour, and that is what attracted his fans to him.
Dan Levitt is executive director at Tabor Village, an adjunct professor of gerontology at Simon Fraser University and an adjunct professor in the school of nursing at the University of B.C.