Glen Campbell

Glen Travis Campbell (born April 22, 1936) is an American country pop singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television. Campbell was one of twelve children born to a sharecropper father with Scottish ancestors right outside the tiny community of Delight in Pike County, Arkansas, in a town called Billstown, then a community of fewer than one hundred residents. He started playing guitar as a youth without learning to read music.

He credits his Uncle Boo for teaching him the guitar. Campbell said that at the age of one and a half he almost drowned. By the time he was eighteen, he was touring the South as part of the Western Wranglers. In 1958, he moved to Los Angeles to become a session musician. He was part of the 1959 line-up of the group the Champs, famous for their instrumental "Tequila".

During his 50 years in show business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records and racked up 12 RIAA Gold albums, 4 Platinum albums and 1 Double-Platinum album. Of his 74 trips up the country charts, 27 landed in the Top 10. Campbell's hits include John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind", Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston", Larry Weiss's "Rhinestone Cowboy" and Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights".


In 1961, the 24-year-old musician hit the Los Angeles studio scene like a blast of fresh air. Campbell quickly became a sought-after studio picker, his talents enriching records by such artists as Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Merle Haggard, Elvis Presley, Jan & Dean and the Righteous Brothers. In addition, Phil Spector and Jimmy Bowen used him for most of their projects, and the Beach Boys invited him to join their group in the mid-sixties. He toured with that legendary band for 18 months in 1964 and ‘65, until his own solo career took off.

Campbell had released a single, “Turn Around Look At Me,” on a regional label in 1961 that cracked the charts and got the attention of Capitol Records. His first album for Capitol, Big Bluegrass Special, was recorded under the name The Green River Boys Featuring Glen Campbell. The debut collection yielded one Top 20 hit, “Kentucky Means Paradise,” and Glen continued to record for the label. Then, in 1967, “Gentle On My Mind” broke the world open like an oyster for Glen Campbell.

The single initially only made it to #30 in Billboard. More than a year later, however; after Campbell had become a crossover sensation with “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” “I Wanna Live” and “The Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife”; “Gentle On My Mind” made an incredible second chart climb. His success continued with the late 1968 release of “Wichita Lineman,” which hit #1 country and #3 on the pop charts. “Galveston” revisited that crossover success in early 1969.

In February 2008, Campbell performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in his 'Farewell to Australia' tour. In the lead-up to the tour, Campbell spoke with Country HQ in Dec 2007 in an interview where he not only reflected on his stellar career, but also his plans for the upcoming tour and more details on a proposed CD with songwriter Jimmy Webb. It was announced in April 2008 that Campbell was returning to his signature label, Capitol, to release his new album, Meet Glen Campbell. The album was released on August 19.

With this album he branched off in a different musical direction, covering tracks from artists such as Travis, U2, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jackson Browne and Foo Fighters. It was Campbell's first release on Capitol in over 15 years. Musicians from Cheap Trick and Jellyfish contributed to the album as well. The first single, a cover of Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", was released to radio in July 2008. In March 2010, a farewell album titled "Ghost on the Canvas" was announced.