Posted on 04/17/2014 12:37:30 PM PDT by FlJoePa
Glen Campbell has been moved into a care facility three years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, People.com reports.
"He was moved to an Alzheimer's facility last week," a family friend told the title. "I'm not sure what the permanent plan is for him yet. We'll know more next week."
The singer, whose "Rhinestone Cowboy" topped the charts in 1975, had been suffering from short-term memory loss in recent years. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in early 2011.
The 78-year-old Grammy winner and his wife Kim initially shared the news of his illness back in 2011 because he’d hoped to give a series of goodbye concerts, in conjunction with an album "Ghost on the Canvas,” which was released later that year.
"Ghost on the Canvas” (Surfdog), Campbell’s 61st studio album, was expected to be his last. It wasn’t. A brand new collection of recordings from the legendary singer, "See You There" (Surfdog) was released last December. With Campbell’s health apparently in decline, it’s increasingly likely the collection will be the final studio recording of the Arkansas native's career.
The latest health setback comes just days before the documentary of that final tour, titled “Glen Campbell... I'll Be Me,” gets its world premiere April 18 at the 2014 Nashville Film Festival.
Campbell was named both CMA Entertainer and Male Vocalist of the Year in 1968, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005. The veteran performer has sold more than 45 million albums over the course of his career.
re: If he wasn’t writing his own pieces, he knew how to pick them.
Jimmy Webb wrote a lot of Campbell’s hits.
There is no end to his talent.
Here he is doing Amazing Grace on the Bagpipe:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_DqmyI_YNE
And here he is doing Dueling Banjos with daughter Ashley (Note, he already was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s then):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FY8OjT6me8
Poor man. What a terrible disease.
I didn’t know til not that long ago how much of a hand Campbell had in so many of the “classic songs” from the 60’s.
Check him out singing “Still Within the Sound of My Voice.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlqJMHvDz7Y.
Linda Ronstadt was a great singer, and did a great version of this song, but his version is sublime.
This was in one of the comments on the Amazing Grace video. How nice that he could do so many other things!
Also, I'm not surprised he could still play banjo with Alzheimers. Motor skills, especially those honed by practice, are among the last to go. My father (32 years in the Navy) could still polish his boots and iron until very recently, and he could probably still clean a gun if you handed it to him.
People also forget acquired languages. My boss's husband forgot how to speak English. He would say, "Why doesn't anyone understand English anymore?!?" and she would reply, "Manuel, you were speaking Spanish!" The husband of one of my mother's friends forgot English and could only speak German.
I love “Gentle On My Mind.”
BFL
Nice, and I agree about Linda Ronstadt, a terrific vocalist.
Onz, he wrote, “MacArthur Park”!
yep...I’ve always been a fan..
my mother is in stage 4 Alzheimers, with nothing left of her personality..
she repeats I love you hon, hon , hon... all day to my brother, ...she doesn’t know him by name anymore... doesn’t know anyone of her 5 children...
hate this disease...
A very great guitarist - and a very fine singer. A part of my childhood and very youthful adulthood. Must buy his greatest hits album.
My mom was a stroke victim with dementia. She spent the last 4 years in a skilled nursing facility. I was there 5 to 6 times a week. As bad as it was, I always said “thank God she does not have Alzheimers.” I feel bad for the families of the Alzheimers victims. The families are the ones who suffer the most.
I’d always admired him as a vocalist, but I was surprised at his guitar virtuousity. The bagpipery was okay ... just getting a song out of that instrument shows that a person has made a lot of effort!
Yup, not a bad guitarist! Loved his voice. Funny thing about musicians, they almost always know how to put over a song. Campbell, of course, sang very well.
True Grit tonight on dvd?!
We don’t have that, but it might be on Netflix streaming. I’m going to church, though.
Was he part of the Wrecking Crew?
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