Glen Campbell, American rock and country music legend, dies aged 81

Campbell, the seventh son of 12, born to a family of tenant farmers in Arkansas, went on to become one of America’s best-selling recording artists – outselling the Beatles in 1968.

In a career stretching six decades, he sold over 45 million records, and topped the country music chart 12 times – becoming a pioneer of country-pop crossover, and paving the way for generations of musicians.

Campbell began playing the guitar as a young boy, becoming obsessed with jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and playing on his local radio station at the age of six. 

He dropped out of school when he was 14 and moved to Wyoming with an uncle who was a musician, playing shows together at rural bars. 

He then moved to Los Angeles, fathering his first child at the age of 17, and by 1962 joined a group of session musicians called the Wrecking Crew.

Campbell went on to perform in tracks including the Byrds' Mr Tambourine Man, Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas, and the Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling.

"I’d have to pick cotton for a year to make what I'd make in a week in LA," he said. 

"I learned it was crucial to play right on the edge of the beat. It makes you drive the song more. You're ahead of the beat, but you're not." 

In late 1964 Brian Wilson had a nervous breakdown on tour with the Beach Boys, and the band called on Campbell to replace him on bass and high harmonies. 

"I took Brian’s place and that was just… I was in heaven then – hog heaven!" he recalled.

Wilson later paid tribute to his stand-in.

"He fit right in. His main forte is he's a great guitar player, but he's even a better singer than all the rest. He could sing higher than I could."

Campbell had his first major hit in 1967, with By the Time I Get to Phoenix, written by Jimmy Webb. He followed it up with Wichita Lineman, one of his most celebrated songs.

Campbell then moved into television, approached to guest host the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, in 1968. 

The show was a triumph and led to his own variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, which he hosted from 1969 until 1972, showcasing artists such as Ray Charles, Johnny Cash and Linda Ronstadt. He also gave a national platform to rising country stars like Willie Nelson. 

"He exposed us to a big part of the world that would have never had the chance to see us," said Nelson. "He's always been a big help to me."

Campbell briefly dallied in film, starring alongside John Wayne in True Grit, in a role for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe, before roaring back to the charts with the 1975 hit Rhinestone Cowboy.

Campbell was married four times, with five sons and three daughters.

Despite his career successes, he struggled with alcoholism and cocaine addiction.

In the early Eighties, he had a tempestuous, high-profile relationship with country singer Tanya Tucker, who was 22 years his junior. Tucker claimed Campbell once beat her viciously enough to knock out her two front teeth – an incident Campbell denied, although he admitted that their relationship occasionally turned violent.

He was calmed by the church, becoming a born-again Christian in 1981. The following year he married Kimberly Woollen, a Radio City Music Hall Rockette and eventually worked his way toward sobriety - though he would later fall off the wagon in 2002 and serve a brief stint in prison for drunk driving, having kneed a police officer in the thigh when he was arrested.

It was Kim who helped Campbell clean up his life, and stayed with him until his death.

Later this year she is due to give a speech about the struggles of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s – a disease he announced he had in 2011, aged 75.

But Campbell played until the end.

He had begun a late-career renaissance in 2008, through his collaboration with producer and songwriter Julian Raymond, who persuaded Campbell to record a diverse batch of songs by younger, hipper artists, including Green Day, Tom Petty, the Replacements and U2.

In June 2011 he announced he was retiring from music due to the disease, and released his final album of original music, Ghost on the Canvas. He embarked on a farewell tour - with three of his children backing him.

"I think this has been really good for him," said his daughter Ashley. 

"Before the announcement, people were thinking: 'He's drunk. He's using again.' 

“Now it's more of a supportive thing as opposed to an angry, critical thing."

In 2014, I’ll Be Me, a film about Campbell’s farewell tour and struggles with Alzheimer’s was released.  The film shows Campbell sometimes forgetting the words, but never the music.

Described by Variety as being a film which “blends unflinching medical details, poignant performance footage and a survey of its subject’s place in musical history”, it received widespread acclaim for its honesty. Former president Bill Clinton saluted Campbell’s actions, saying his advocacy on behalf of those with Alzheimer’s might ultimately outstrip his contributions to music as his most lasting legacy.

He spent his final years in an assisted living facility, his friends and children often spending days with him playing him his old songs. 

And earlier this year he released Adios, his final album, comprised of covers of his favourite songs. 

Kim Campbell said she felt the music helped him.

"Music utilises all of the brain, not just one little section of it," she said. 

"Everything's firing all at once. It's really stimulating and probably helped him plateau and not progress as quickly as he might have. 

“I could tell from his spirits that it was good for him. It made him really happy. It was good for the whole family to continue touring and to just keep living our lives. And we hope it encourages other people to do the same."