Glen Campbell Biography

Glen Campbell’s guitar-pickin’ talent, dimpled chin and blue-eyed good looks made him a star of both country music and mainstream pop in the 1960s.

Glen Campbell started off as a hotshot Los Angeles session guitarist early in the decade, making a name for himself while playing behind headliners like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and the Beach Boys. His own 1967 single “Gentle On My Mind” made Campbell a bona fide solo star, and he followed up with a ranchful of hit tunes including “Wichita Linesman,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Galveston.” In 1969 he made the leap to television as host of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour.

Also in 1969 he took a turn as a dandified Texas Ranger opposite John Wayne in True Grit, in what was by far the most prominent movie role of his career. The Goodtime Hour ran until 1972, and Campbell had hits with “Rhinestone Cowboy” in 1975 and “Southern Nights” in 1977. His autobiography, Rhinestone Cowboy, was published in 1994. Campbell released Meet Glen Campbell in 2008, an album made up of covers of rock songs.

As he was about to release another album in 2011, Ghost on the Canvas, Glen Campbell announced that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and would do one last farewell tour. He also made a triumphant appearance singing “Rhinestone Cowboy” on the Grammy Awards telecast in February 2012. Although he spent his final years in an assisted living home, he managed to release an album of covers, Adios, in 2017. He died later that same year.