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Quick Facts
Best Known For
Glen Campbell is best known for his country music career, and his later crossover success as an actor in films such as 1969's True Grit.
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Play NowGlen Campbell. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 07:13, May 18, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/glen-campbell-9542426.
Glen Campbell. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/glen-campbell-9542426 [Accessed 18 May 2013].
"Glen Campbell." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 18 2013, 07:13 http://www.biography.com/people/glen-campbell-9542426.
"Glen Campbell," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/glen-campbell-9542426 [accessed May 18, 2013].
"Glen Campbell," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/glen-campbell-9542426 (accessed May 18, 2013).
Glen Campbell [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 18] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/glen-campbell-9542426.
Glen Campbell, http://www.biography.com/people/glen-campbell-9542426 (last visited May 18, 2013).
Glen Campbell. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/glen-campbell-9542426. Accessed May 18, 2013.
Synopsis
Glen Campbell was born on April 22, 1936, in Delight, Arkansas. Campbell began his musical career as a songwriter and sideman to many of the 1960's biggest stars. He transitioned to film with John Wayne in 1969's True Grit, snagging a Golden Globe nomination for his performance. Campbell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005, and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He announced plans to retire from touring in 2013.
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I like to start the day early, it keeps me out of trouble.
Early Life
Glen Travis Campbell was born on April 22, 1936, on a family farm in Delight, Arkansas. The son of Wesley, a sharecropper, and Carrie Dell, Campbell was one of 12 children. The family was largely impoverished—all the Campbell children pitched in to help pick cotton—but extremely musical, and Campbell showed musical promise early on. At the age of 4, his father bought him a $5 Sears and Roebuck guitar; within a few years, Campbell was appearing as a paid act and performing guest spots on local radio stations.
A talented guitarist by the age of 16, Campbell dropped out of high school and headed out West, where he played with bands in Wyoming's bars and roadhouses. In 1952, he joined the Sandia Mountain Boys (a band founded by his uncle, Dick Bills) and soon became a popular performer on local television and radio shows in New Mexico. At the age of 22, Campbell formed his own band: Glen Campbell and The Western Wranglers.
Success as a Collaborator
Shortly thereafter, Campbell relocated to Los Angeles. He took a job at the American Music Company, a small publishing house that employed a staff of songwriters. In 1961, at the age of 24, Campbell wrote and recorded the single "Turn Around, Look at Me." Its modest success caught the attention of Capitol Records and, under contract with the label, he became known as a skilled session guitarist and finger-picker. Campbell worked as a sideman with artists including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Merle Haggard, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, the Righteous Brothers, and the Monkees. Prominent producers Phil Spector and Jimmy Bowen also regularly tapped Campbell for their recordings.
In 1965, following Brian Wilson's retirement, Campbell was invited to tour with The Beach Boys as a temporary bassist. Two years later, he recorded the song "Gentle on My Mind," which proved to be a crossover pop success. Campbell's next single, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," also entered the Top 40 and earned a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance. That same year, his song, "Gentle," earned the Grammy for Best Country and Western Recording.
Accolades
As Campbell racked up the accolades, the Country Music Association honored him as the Entertainer of the Year and, in 1968, Campbell released his biggest hits to date: "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston." Both tracks served to narrow the gap between country and pop music.
In 1968, Campbell made a guest appearance on The Joey Bishop Show. The Smothers Brothers comedy duo caught the performance and were so taken with Campbell, they presented him with the opportunity to co-host The Summer Smothers Brothers Show.
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