Country music legend Glen Campbell has died at the age of 81 after a long battle with Alzheimer's, his family has said,

The musician came from Arkansas and sold more than 45 million records, with his most well known hit Rhinestone Cowboy.

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In a statement, his family said: "It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather," their statement said.

He announced his Alzheimer's diagnosis in 2011.

He initially established himself as a prominent session musician and played on the some of the biggest hits of the 1960s, including Daydream Believer by The Monkees, You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling by The Righteous Brothers, Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra and Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley.

But he was equally successful later in his career with songs he performed himself which included hits such as Gentle on My Mind and By the Time I Get to Phoenix.

His song Rhinestone Cowboy was a number one around the world in 1975 and his crossover country appeal allowed him to sell millions of records and in 1968, he even outsold the Beatles.

He fought a very public battle with Alzheimer's and a documentary of him in 2014 showed him on his final tour and portrayed him as the public face of the disease.

He was born in 1936 in Billstown, Arkansas, the seventh son in a sharecropping family of 12 children.