Glen Campbell has Alzheimer's Disease.

[in_cog_ni_to]

In his new song, "A Better Place," Glen Campbell sings, "I need the ones I love Lord/More and more each day."

The lyric is more personal than the world knows: In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Campbell, 75, and his wife, Kim, reveal that the singer has Alzheimer's disease.

The couple have decided to go public with Glen’s diagnosis because he's hoping to say farewell with a final slate of live performances this fall – and they want his fans to be aware of the musician's condition.

"Glen is still an awesome guitar player and singer," says Kim. "But if he flubs a lyric or gets confused on stage, I wouldn’t want people to think, 'What's the matter with him? Is he drunk?' "


http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20504436,00.html

[closeupready]

1. That's too bad. :-(

K&R

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Female coach just announced she's got dementia at age 59 (i think)

Terribly sad

[rurallib]

7. Pat Summit down at Tnnessee isn't it?

I believe she is the top winning women's Bball coach of all time.
I am a fair fan of women's college bball - when I heard that I was stunned.

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. really sad. n/t

[madrchsod]

8. pat summitt....

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CC0QqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thirdage.com%2Fnews%2Fdementia-diagnosis-wont-stop-coach-pat-summitt_08-25-2011&ei=LaxWTsTZJ8LlsQKgrNmtDA&usg=AFQjCNHZoIzt3unuTqi3OhndjZX-9-Mf1w&sig2=Wr8fNVfpe_SCh72HCRvlKA

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. Thanks.

[drm604]

3. So sad.

:(

[William769]

4. I love Rhinestone Cowboy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p8wDhK5LyY

:(

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. not me. Like "Galveston" and "Witchita lineman"

[DrDan]

5. what a shame -

[hifiguy]

6. He was one hell of a studio guitarist

back in the days of the LA "Wrecking Crew" during the 1960s, long before he became well known as a solo artist. He had good taste, too, doing all those great Jimmy Webb tunes.

[Scruffy1]

15. Damn straight. And a a nice guy ,too. n/t.

[Zax2me]

17. Yep. He, Jerry Reed, Roy Clark. Second to none on the guitar.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

9. We need to fund more scientific research

Unfortunately, government is cutting funding everywhere. When I was a kid and a man walked on the moon, I thought surely by now we would have colonized the place and even sent people to Mars. The world seems to be going backwards and lacks vision. Rich people aren't funding private research either, except for a very few like Oracle Corporation's Larry Ellison. My mother has Alzheimer's disease and I have first hand knowledge of how devastating this disease can be.

[Vidar]

10. Damn. He's a nice guy. This horrible disease has taken at least three of my family members.

[roguevalley]

14. they are studying a group of retired elderly nuns who have

alzheimers but don't have the symptoms. they play cards, do puzzles and keep their minds busy. No one knows why but they are amazing.

[Zax2me]

16. The 60's spawned great country music talent. Amazing talent.

Most were lost amid the british rock invasion and the popularity explosion of rock and, well, pop music.
Tremendous musicians like Roy Clark and Jerry Reed. To watch these two on a guitar left you mouth agape.
They along with Glenn Campbell did spill over into mainstream success, into the 70's, one way or another. But it all seemed tempered by other breaking personalities and acts in the music industry. Country music just seemed too traditional and conservative in a time of change.
Glenn Campbell's Gentle On My Mind has a wonderful banjo rhythm that contains some of my favorite lyric lines ever - nothing really earth shaking about it, but it just always grabbed me -

I dip my cup of of soup back from a gurgling crackling cauldron in some train yard
My beard a roughened coal pile and a dirty hat pulled low across my face
Through cupped hands round a tin can
I pretend to hold you to my breast and find
That you're wavin' from the backroads
by the rivers of my memory
Ever smiling ever gentle on my mind

[Obamanaut]

18. I read an article awhile back that on his tour he will have family members

accompanying him, and the back-up musicians will all be much closer to him than normal in order to lend a greater sense of security/comfort if he falters during the performance.

I think that's cool.

[Zax2me]

19. Just a few youtube links -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsRgxVZdTOg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFqjzrb-pLc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI6lzOQW5k0

[guitar man]

25. Cool!

I had never seen that clip with him and Steve Lukather before, thanks for posting ! :hi:

[ChoppinBroccoli]

20. I Have A Theory That He Really Doesn't Have Alzheimer's

He just went to see the movie "True Grit" last summer and sat there going, "I could have SWORN I was in this movie. Wasn't I in this movie?" And then he just jumped to the conclusion that he had Alzheimer's.

[DeSwiss]

21. K&R n/t

[MoonRiver]

22. Very sad. eom

[Amerigo Vespucci]

23. I knew it for a while...also, the new Rolling Stone has an article.

I'd heard a while back that he was planning a "final album" and "farewell tour."

Such a shame, such a rough ride he's had through life. I saw him at the peak of his success, live at the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, while his "Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" was one of the hottest shows on TV and "Wichita Lineman" was a Top Ten hit, not an "oldie."

[guitar man]

24. The BBC radio just did a great documentary on Wichita Lineman

It's part of their "Soul Music" series on music that stirs the soul. It starts out with Glen and goes into the connection between him and Jimmy Webb and how the song came to be, then it goes on to different versions and people who it has great meaning for etc.

Now, to toot my own horn a bit, I played a part on this documentary. The guy you hear come in at about 5:45 is my best friend, "brother from another mother" David Crary. He's a real IBEW electrical lineman and also a part time musician and songwriter. We played together in a band when we were youngsters. I recorded his interview at my studio and we recorded a version of Wichita Lineman which he sang on, that you'll hear bits of during his interview. Link to listen is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013f96w

Dave and I were huge Glen fans , still are, and we are both really saddened to hear of his illness. Godspeed to him...