6 Fun Facts About Glen Campbell, Music’s “Rhinestone Cowboy”
Glen Campbell became a country music legend by singing heartfelt songs about everyday fellows with big feelings and rambling spirits. Campbell’s 29 Top Ten hits, coupled with his clean-cut looks, good ol’ boy charm and masterful guitar skills, led to a six-decade career that encompassed music, movies and television. And his tender, Grammy-winning final hit, “I’m Not Going to Miss You,” and farewell tour — both performed well into Campbell’s fatal, six-year struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease — displayed his talent and tenacity to the very end.
To celebrate what would have been Campbell’s 89th birthday on April 22, here are 7 facts you may not know about music’s legendary Rhinestone Cowboy.
1 Campbell nearly died as a toddler
One of 12 kids born into an Arkansas sharecropping family during the worst of the Depression, Campbell wandered into the Little Missouri River as a toddler and began to drown. Though he was unresponsive when pulled from the water, his brother Lyndell refused to give up trying to resuscitate him and Glen miraculously lived, leading his family to believe he was special.
2 He became a gifted guitarist as a child
Everett Collection
When Campbell was four, his dad bought the boy a Sears & Roebuck guitar. Glen’s lookalike uncle, William “Boo” Campbell — who was only 7 years older than Glen — taught him how to play, and the pair opened for Hank Williams when Glen was just 10. A few years later, the boys hit the road and by the time Glen was in his mid teens, he helped support his family with his earnings.
3 Campbell was a sought-after session musician before he went solo
Curt Gunther/TV Guide/courtesy Everett Collection
Planting the roots for his crossover success, Campbell played guitar for a jaw-dropping number of famed musicians including the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, Nat King Cole, Merle Haggard, the Monkees, Doris Day and Lou Rawls. By the time he turned 30, he had played on more than 530 recorded songs, and was a member of the famed session musician collective the Wrecking Crew.
4 Campbell wasn’t really a “good time” guy
At a time when America was struggling under the weight of the Vietnam War and other social and political upheavals, folks longed for a simple distraction. Campbell’s crossover musical appeal, burgeoning film career, affable personality and winning appearances on a host of variety hours made him a natural for a show of his own. The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour debuted on CBS in 1969, but Campbell and the network had different ideas of what the show should be. Campbell was an avid fan of multiple music genres and also wanted to give a leg up to more roughhewn country acts like Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard. CBS had something more country and corny in mind.
The result was a compromise, with Campbell hosting the likes of Johnny Cash, the Beatles, the Monkees, Tom Jones, Cher, Ella Fitzgerald, Thelma Houston, Stevie Wonder and Neil Diamond, but also Andy Griffith, Jim Nabors, Roy Clark, Fess Parker and Buddy Hackett. In his autobiography, Campbell said of the time, “I didn’t have a career; my career had me.”
> Ultimate Trivia: Classic Country Music Legends
5 Campbell’s love life was rocky
Everett Collection
Campbell married his first wife, Diane, when he was just 17; she was 15 and pregnant. They divorced five years later and Campbell wasted no time in wedding his second wife, Billie Jean. Though she was critical of her husband’s career, the union lasted 16 years.
Campbell next married Sarah Davis, the former wife of his pal and fellow country singer Mac Davis. “I can’t be alone,” he explained. When that union ended four years later, Campbell entered a short-lived, high-profile romance with the much younger country music firebrand Tanya Tucker, whom he labeled “one of the finest female talents that God lets draw breath.” Despite Campbell’s outwardly easygoing ways, the pairing was fiery, fueled by bad habits, public brawls and frequent breakups.
“I regret a lot of things,” Tucker, now 66, told the Chicago Tribune in 2018. “I was too cocky. I wanted him to try a little harder. One more time would’ve worked, you know?” Before they had a chance to reconcile for good, one of Campbell’s band members set him up then 22-year-old Rockette Kim Woollen, who stayed by his side until his death and remains an advocate for those with Alzheimer’s disease.
6 He was besties with Alice Cooper
Though the Rhinestone Cowboy and the Godfather of Shock Rock might seem an odd combo, Campbell and Cooper were great friends after the devout Christians met at church. “We couldn’t have been closer,” Cooper said of his longtime golf buddy and family friend, whose kids grew up with Campbell’s. “He had charisma that you just can’t buy.”
Cooper spotted signs of Campbell’s Alzheimer’s well before he was diagnosed, even though he was still professionally on top of his game.
7 Eddie Van Halen tricked Cooper into an introduction to Campbell
Though Eddie Van Halen was considered one of music’s premier guitar players, he was still in awe of Campbell. Knowing their mutual friend Alice Cooper frequently golfed with Campbell in their adopted hometown of Phoenix, Van Halen finagled an invite, hoping to score a guitar lesson with his hero.
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Kings Of Country
March 2022
From outlaws Willie & Waylon to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash, we have every tear in your beer covered
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