Glen Campbell and Elvis Presley shared humble Southern roots, massive showbiz success

On Tuesday, country-pop star Glen Campbell died following a six-year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. The Grammy-winning singer and native of Pike County, Arkansas, was 81.

Campbell’s passing brought a flood of reaction on social media with many fans posting a classic image of the musician with his longtime friend and fellow performer Elvis Presley. The photo, taken at Memphis deejay George Klein’s December 1970 wedding in Las Vegas, finds a somewhat extravagantly outfitted Elvis — wearing a black fur coat, leather gloves, chomping a cigar, gripping a bottle, and for some reason, a police-style flashlight — entertaining a rapt, cherubic-looking Campbell. 

Like Presley, Campbell came from humble Southern beginnings only to scale the greatest heights of show business, becoming a star of stage, screen, radio and record.  
Born in the Arkansas backwoods, Campbell was the seventh son in a family of eight boys and four girls. By the time he turned 10, Campbell was a guitar-playing prodigy who saw music as an escape from a harsh life of sharecropping.  

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Campbell left home at 16 to join his uncle’s honky-tonk band in New Mexico. Later fronting his own outfit, he worked the Southwest’s dance and bar-band circuit for eight years, becoming a regional success with weekly radio and TV shows. In 1960, the 24-year-old Campbell decided to take a gamble.

With only his young bride and a few hundred dollars in savings, he left Albuquerque and headed for Hollywood. Fate smiled on the plucky guitar picker as he quickly fell in with a crowd of rock and pop movers, working on sessions for teen idol Rick Nelson, landing a spot playing guitar for the Champs (of “Tequila” fame) and signing on as a staff songwriter at publishing house American Music, where he launched his career as a solo artist.

Making a name for himself

Despite his early efforts at a solo career, Campbell largely remained a sideman for most of the '60s, becoming a member of legendary L.A. session collective the Wrecking Crew. In 1963 alone, he appeared on more than 500 recordings. He spent the bulk of the decade working with the era’s biggest names — including Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Phil Spector, Sam Cooke, and Dean Martin — with his fluid, ringing guitar gracing everything from Pet Sounds to “Strangers In The Night” to the Monkees’ “Mary, Mary.”

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Presley and Campbell would develop a personal friendship and professional respect over the years. Campbell first met Presley on the road in 1957. Later during his Hollywood days, Elvis would watch Campbell play local club gigs in Los Angeles. 

According Presley expert Ernst Jorgensen, Campbell played on only one Elvis track: a cover of Ray Charles “What’d I Say.” Recorded in 1963 in Hollywood, the song appeared on the soundtrack to the film classic “Viva Las Vegas.” 

In 1967, Campbell finally broke through as solo act — scoring massive success with “Gentle on My Mind." For a moment, Presley had hoped to land him as the lead guitarist for what would become his TCB band, a job that went to fellow six-string great James Burton. 

Presley would cover the Campbell hit “Gentle on My Mind” during his “From Elvis in Memphis” sessions with producer Chips Moman in 1969. A year later, Presley suggested Campbell recut the '50s Conway Twitty number “It’s Only Make Believe” which he did, yielding a massive worldwide hit. 

Campbell and Presley would become top draws playing Las Vegas in the late-'60s, often seeing each other perform live. As Campbell would recall in a 2011 interview with The Guardian, "When we played…in Vegas, (Elvis) would go in for a month, and I'd go in for a month. Then we'd switch. Elvis had more charisma in his little finger than everybody else put together. What d'you call it? Electricity.” 

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In an interview with The Commercial Appeal, Memphis Mafia member Red West — who died in July — recalled a funny Vegas episode where Presley, who rarely gambled, as he was unable to visit casino floors without attracting crowds, lost his shirt to Campbell.  

"He went down to a casino one night when Glen Campbell was there. It was some sort of special occasion with Campbell acting as the dealer,” recalled West. “The whole casino was soon around Elvis's blackjack table. Blackjack was the only thing he knew how to play. He lost about $10,000, got really upset and never went back again."

Want more Elvis?

The Commercial Appeal is marking the 40th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death with a 64-page magazine that will be included with subscribers’ Sunday newspaper and sold at select locations around town.

To order a copy, click here.