In Memoriam: Glen Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017)

Country singer, songwriter, musician and actor Glen Travis Campbell passed away today at the age of 81 from complications of Alzheimer’s Disease.

From 1969 to 1972, Campbell was the host of the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS, a music and comedy variety show that aired 91 episodes. Among his 80 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 or Billboard Country charts were hits such as Rhinestone Cowboy, By the Time I Get to Phoenix and his cover of John Hartford’s Gentle on My Mind.

Campbell recorded his final studio album, Adios, in Nashville in 2012 and 2013 after his Alzheimer’s diagnosis; it was released in June this year. The seventh of 12 kids, Campbell dropped out of school when he was 14, moving first to Wyoming and then to Los Angeles, where in the early 60s he appeared on the records of Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard and the Byrds. His first hit came in 1967 with By the Time I Get to Phoenix, written by Jim Webb. They would go on to collaborate on numerous records such as Wichita Lineman and the ballad Galveston.

He is survived by his wife, Kim Campbell, and eight children.