On This Day in 1975, Glen Campbell Was at No. 1 With a Song He Discovered While on Tour in Australia
On 26 August 1975, Glen Campbell was spending his second week at number one on the US country chart with “Rhinestone Cowboy”, a song that revived his career and became his best-known recording. The song’s story of a struggling country singer seeking success resonated with Campbell after a difficult early 1970s, marked by the cancellation of his television show, a slowing acting career and weaker chart performance.
Campbell discovered the song while touring Australia, where Larry Weiss’s original version had been a minor hit, and bought Weiss’s album to learn it. On returning to the US, Campbell and Capitol Records executive Al Coury independently agreed it should be his next single; it subsequently topped the country, Billboard Hot 100 and adult contemporary charts, sold over one million copies, and reached number one in Canada, Ireland and Yugoslavia.
- “Rhinestone Cowboy” restored Glen Campbell’s commercial momentum.
- Campbell found the song while touring Australia.
- The 1975 single topped several major charts.
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Glen Campbell was an American singer and guitarist who became a major country and pop star in the 1960s. By the early 1970s, his television show had ended and his acting and chart success had slowed.
“Rhinestone Cowboy” was written by Larry Weiss, who had recorded it himself before Campbell came across it while touring Australia. Its lyrics follow a country singer hoping to make it, a theme that connected with Campbell’s own career at the time.
The recording became Campbell’s signature song and reached audiences beyond country music. Its success also brought Weiss’s song to a much wider audience.