Rhinestone Cowboy Glen Campbell is dead at 81
Country legend and True Grit star loses his fight against Alzheimer’s
GLen Campbell has died at the age of 81.
The country music star, whose hits included Rhinestone Cowboy and Wichita Lineman, had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for several years.
He died yesterday at an Alzheimer’s care home in nashville surrounded by his family, his publicist said.
During a career that spanned six decades, Campbell sold more than 45million records, had 12 gold albums and 75 chart hits. In 1968, one of his biggest years, he outsold The Beatles.
The singer’s family said in a statement: ‘It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and legendary singer and guitarist.’
Campbell, whose Scottish father Wesley came from the Borders, was born in 1936 in Billstown, Arkansas, the seventh son in a family of 12 children.
He began playing the guitar at four and dropped out of school when he was 14 before moving to Wyoming where he would play gigs in rural bars with his uncle, who was also a musician.
Campbell later moved to Los Angeles and, by 1962, had a regular spot with a group of session musicians called the
‘He’s a great guitar player’
Wrecking Crew. Their music appeared on countless tracks, including the Byrds’ Mr Tambourine Man, elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas and the Righteous Brothers’ You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.
He once said: ‘Some people have said that I can “hear” a hit song, meaning that I can tell the first time a song is played for me if it has potential. I have been able to hear some of the hits that way, but I can also “feel” one.’
In late 1964, when Brian Wilson had a nervous breakdown on tour with The Beach Boys, the band called on Campbell to replace him on bass and high harmonies.
Speaking about his time with the band, Campbell once said: ‘I took Brian’s place and that was just ... I was in heaven then – hog heaven!’
Wilson once said of his replacement: ‘He fit right in. His main forte is he’s a great guitar player, but he’s even a better singer than all the rest. He could sing higher than I could!’
He had his first major hit in 1967 with By the Time I Get To Phoenix, written by Jimmy Webb. The tune sparked a working relationship that included the haunting Vietnam War ballad Galveston and Campbell’s first Top 10 hit Wichita Lineman in 1968.
The same year Campbell won Grammys in both the country and pop categories.
Campbell also forayed into acting – and co-starred with John Wayne in the 1969 Western True Grit.
He had a weekly audience of some 50million for the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS from 1969 to 1972.
Campbell was married four times, and has five sons and three daughters. Despite his career successes, he struggled with alcoholism and cocaine addiction. In the early eighties, he had a tempestuous, high-profile relationship with country singer Tanya Tucker, who was 22 years his junior.
Later he became a bornagain Christian and in 1982 he married Kimberly Woolen who helped Campbell clean up his life.
However, the singer spent ten days in jail in 2003 after being arrested for a hit-andrun – an incident that ended with him allegedly kneeing a police officer in the thigh.
At the age of 75 he revealed he was battling Alzheimer’s and subsequently became a public face for the disease.
Shortly after going public with the disease he announced he was retiring from music. He released his final album of original music, titled Ghost on the Canvas, and embarked on a farewell tour. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
‘Hit and run incident’