Country music icon Glen Campbell, best known for tracks including "Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Wichita Lineman," has been checked into a facility specializing in Alzheimer's care. The performer announced his illness during 2011 but had continued touring up until mid-2013, when his health prevented him from taking his farewell tour to Australia.
Leaving music was never an option for Campbell, especially when he and his family made the announcement regarding his condition. According to the performer, he only spilled the beans for vanity: He didn't want fans to think he was forgetting the words to his own songs because he was unfit to perform. Based on concert reviews by reporters such as the Los Angeles Times' Randall Roberts, Campbell didn't lose a inch because of Alzheimer's.
"Had he not announced in 2011 that he was living with Alzheimer's disease, few in the crowd would have been the wiser," Roberts wrote. "In fact, he was sharper and more precise during this gig than he was last year at Club Nokia, where he kicked off the Farewell Tour."
Campbell was never struggling for attention on the country music circuit, but the attention brought from his diagnosis invited more appreciation for his final recordings. He released Ghost on The Canvas to widespread praise during 2011, and he released a volume of re-imaginations of his own songs from the same recording session during 2013, titled See You There. Ghost featured collaborations with a slew of guest guitarists, including Brian Setzer, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins, and Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick.
Campbell began his career as a session guitarist, playing with groups such as The Beach Boys, before finding fame in the country music scene. He was perhaps most famous for The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, a variety program that ran on CBS for three years during the early '70s. Campbell earned the spot by filling in for the Smothers Brothers during 1968.
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