The soundtrack of many lives was the songbook of Glen Campbell who died Tuesday at age 81 after battling Alzheimer’s disease.
Whether the favorite was “Rhinestone Cowboy” or “Wichita Lineman,” his crossover popularity from country music to mainstream made him a TV and radio star.
In the 1960s Campbell was one of several “on-call” studio musicians known collectively as “The Wrecking Crew.”
Their members, who enjoyed reputations for spectacular musical proficiency, were the band who played the instruments heard on countless Top 40 hits for stars including: The Beach Boys, Sonny and Cher, The Monkees, The Association, The Mama’s and the Papa’s, Jan and Dean, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Ike and Tina Turner, and many others.
Perhaps most notably, Campbell’s guitar was one of the musical components of producer Phil Spector’s famous “Wall of Sound,” a revolutionary, multi-layered technique in which several instruments playing simultaneously created a complex, stunning effect on songs broadcast through AM radio speakers in the years before stereo recording became the norm.
Fans flocked to the Internet in tribute.