Glen Campbell has lost his battle with Alzheimer’s disease, dying at the age of 81.
In the late 60s and early 70s one of the groundbreaking music acts wasn’t the Kinks, the Temptations, or even Jimmy Hendrix. It was of all things a studio musician and pop singer by the name of Glen Campbell.
Glen was born in Delight, Arkansas in 1936, the seventh child in a family of 12 children. As a young man in 1954, he moved to Albuquerque to join his uncle’s band, Dick Bills and the Sandia Mountain Boys. The turning point for Glen was the later move to Los Angeles to become a studio musician.
As the hottest guitarist in the studio, Glen appeared on hundreds of rock and roll, pop, country and easy listening songs as a member of the ‘Wrecking Crew”, a legendary LA session group. Glen once toured with the Beach Boys making significant contributions to the recordings of the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Jan and Dean and The Monkees.
Glen teamed up with song writer Jimmy Webb, giving us “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”, “Wichita Lineman”, then “Rhinestone Cowboy”. So many of Glen’s songs became number one hits. Glen released more than 70 albums and sold nearly 60 million album sales.
Glen won numerous Grammy awards including Lifetime Achievement, song, album and Male Performance. Glen was the star of TV film, and will be sadly missed by Country, Pop and fans of music around the globe.
Our ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ Glen Campbell, has passed away at the age of 81.
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