by André Depienne

Having taught himself to play guitar at the age of 18, Glen Campbell became a member of the “Western Wranglers”, and went on tour with the band. In 1958, he moved to Los Angeles and very quickly made a name for himself as a session musician, with a group of musicians called “The Wrecking Crew”. While being in that group, he worked with musical giants like Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, the Monkees and even Elvis Presley. In 1962, he released his first album, “Big Bluegrass Special”, but like other albums and singles before, it was unsuccessful.

From 1964 to 1965, he stood in for Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and toured with the band. Glen had played on many of the Beach Boys’ recordings in the studio, which made him the ideal replacement for Wilson. Invited to become a permanent member of the Beach Boys, he gratefully declined. His work as a session musician was more lucrative and ultimately, he dreamed of a solo career.

In 1968, Glen put his work as a session musician on hold to focus on his solo work as a country musician. And it was that year that his big breakthrough came with the album “Gentle On My Mind”. It went straight to no.1 in the US country charts and no.5 in the US pop charts.

From that time on, Glen was regularly in the charts, having as many as 17 no.1 hits, including classics like “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”, “Gentle On my Mind”, “Rhinestone Cowboy”, “Southern Nights” and “Sunflower”.

Glen Campbell also took a turn at acting. He had his most successful role in 1969 alongside John Wayne, in the Western “True Grit”, a film which was remade in 2010 with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon.

In January 2011, Glen was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He decided to record one last album and go on tour, before he would start to forget the words to his songs. In August 2011, he released the album “Ghost of Canvas”, which was a great success.

In 2014, the song “I'm not gonna miss you” from of the biographical film “Glen Campbell: “I’ll Be Me”, got nominated for an Oscar. Country Superstar Tim McGraw attended the 87th Oscar award ceremony on his behalf as Glen Campbell's health had already deteriorated.

Glen Campbell died of Alzheimer’s disease on the 8th of August 2017, in Nashville. On the 9th of June, two months before his death, a final album entitled “Adiós” was released.

Hits: “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”, “Gentle On my Mind”, “Rhinestone Cowboy”, “Southern Nights” and “Sunflower”.