Veteran country music singer Glen Campbell has died aged 81. Following are eight facts about Campbell, one of the biggest stars of American country and pop music in the late 1960s and '70s, with hits such as Rhinestone Cowboy and Witchita Lineman.
* He was the seventh of 12 children born to sharecroppers in Delight, Arkansas. He learned guitar as a boy and played in his uncle's band as a teenager.
* Before stardom, Campbell was part of The Wrecking Crew, a collection of highly regarded Los Angeles studio musicians that also included guitarists Barney Kessel and James Burton, and pianists Leon Russell and Mac "Dr John" Rebennack. Among the hit songs Campbell played on were Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas and the Monkees' Daydream Believer and Last Train to Clarksville.
* Campbell considered Rhinestone Cowboy his best song. His version about a struggling musician, written and first recorded by Larry Weiss, was No.1 on the US country, pop and adult contemporary charts in 1975.
* Campbell had a wild drug-and-alcohol-fuelled romance with country singer Tanya Tucker, who was 22 years younger. When it started in 1980, she called Campbell "the horniest man I ever met" and Campbell said, "I gave God a prayer and he gave me Tanya." After the relationship ended, Campbell said: "God showed me just what I didn't need."
* Campbell took up golf in his mid-20s. He was host of the Glen Campbell Open on the PGA Tour from 1971 to 1983 and for a while had a daily tee time scheduled at the Malibu Country Club. Sometimes he wore cleated cowboy boots rather than golf shoes.
* Campbell crossed genres and age barriers. His 2008 album, Meet Glen Campbell, featured songs from rock bands U2, the Velvet Underground, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Green Day and Foo Fighters.
* After announcing he had Alzheimer's disease in 2011, Campbell recorded an album, Ghost on the Canvas, and went on a farewell tour of the US. Performing with a band that featured three of his children, Campbell sometimes had problems remembering lyrics. A documentary, Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me, was made about the tour and Campbell's struggle with the disease.
* Campbell was married four times, starting at age 17 with his pregnant 15-year-old girlfriend. He had eight children.
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