Embarking on a 148-show tour would be a daunting task for anyone, but in 2011, Glen Campbell was doing that on top of dealing with a recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis, which made his final television appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno all the more bittersweet. Despite his then-recent diagnosis, Campbell seemed in high spirits on the stage, using a teleprompter downstage to help give lyrical cues for his two songs, “It’s Your Amazing Grace” and “A Better Place”.
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Campbell was promoting his “Glen Campbell Goodbye Tour”, which spanned multiple countries from August 2011 to November 2012. The country music icon and his family hadn’t originally intended to wrap his health into the legacy of this final tour, but decided to loop in his fans in case he forgot the words to his songs or acted erratically on stage.
That night in 2011, he didn’t seem to do either.
Glen Campbell Makes Bittersweet Television Appearance in September 2011
The crooning country singer behind hits like “Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston” made one of his final television appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on September 12, 2011. Glen Campbell was promoting his retirement tour, the “Glen Campbell Goodbye Tour”, which had kicked off in Canada and the eastern half of the U.S. a couple of weeks earlier. Two nights before his television performance, Campbell was playing in Forrest City in his home state of Arkansas. He performed in Philadelphia at Irvine Auditorium three days after visiting The Tonight Show. Looking at his touring schedule (and his on-screen performance), one wouldn’t readily assume he had just been diagnosed with progressive neurodegenerative disorder like Alzheimer’s disease.
Campbell performed two songs on The Tonight Show, “It’s Your Amazing Grace” and “A Better Place”. While he certainly didn’t look like the same bucket-haired young man on his 1960s album covers, his eyes were bright, and he was eager to connect with the audience. A downstage teleprompter helped him with lyrical cues, but he didn’t glue his eyes to the screen. He was moving around, ad-libbing, smiling, and laughing with the crowd. His voice cracked a couple of times, but he was also 75 years old at the time. And regardless, he never let that slow him down.
Even all these years later, Campbell’s ability to imbue great emotion into his songs through his vocal delivery remained one of his strongest attributes as a performer. The music itself mirrored earlier, mid-20th-century offerings that follow unconventional harmonic arrangements, which he navigated with ease. Seeing a performer past their prime always has a bittersweet tinge to it, but there was no denying Campbell’s talent and longevity as a performer.
The Singer Didn’t Want To Hide From His Alzheimer’s Diagnosis
Some stars might shy away from diagnoses that could cause public concern or judgment. Alzheimer’s disease is hard for anyone, let alone someone who has dedicated their life to performing music from memory all over the world. Although Glen Campbell originally thought he might keep his diagnosis under wraps, he and his family changed their minds ahead of his retirement tour. Most notably, Campbell wanted to explain to his fans why his performances might look different from what they expected. But the Campbells also wanted to share his Alzheimer’s diagnosis to spread awareness, decrease the disease’s stigma, and show support to the millions of other people around the world who live with the same condition.
And frankly, Campbell’s attitude about his diagnosis and life in his late 70s was anything but shy and timid. “I’m really not worried about anything,” the singer told CBS News in August 2011. “You know those people who say, ‘Oh, geeze. I wonder what’s going to happen tomorrow?’ Tomorrow’s cool. Just don’t mess it up. It’s just wonderful. I think where I am at right now in this universe, I wouldn’t want to be anything else than what I am.”
Glen Campbell, musical icon of the mid-20th century, died in Nashville, Tennessee, at 81 years old on August 8, 2017.
Photo by Stacie McChesney/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank
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