KWXY Presents ● The Story and Music of Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers - Recording Artist / Radio Station Publicity Photo
Kenny Rogers was a multitalented singer/songwriter, musician, producer, photographer, actor, philanthropist and entrepreneur. He has worldwide record sales of more than 120 million albums (with more than 100 million during his lifetime) including one Diamond album, 20 Platinum albums and one Gold album. Rogers also has twenty-four number-one hits to his credit across multiple genres and charted at least one song per decade over a seven-decade period. In 2014, Barry Coulter of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman declared Rogers to be “one of the best-selling music artists of all time.”
He was born Kenneth Ray Rogers as the fourth of eight children to Edward and Lucille Rogers on August 31, 1938 in Houston, Texas. Rogers attended elementary, junior high and high school in Houston, becoming the first high school graduate in his family. His music career began as a member of a Houston group, The Scholars in the late 1950s. He soon moved to solo work, charting a country hit on Cashbox in 1958 with “That Crazy Feeling.”
Rogers was briefly a member of the folk ensemble, The New Christy Minstrels as a singer and bass player and in 1967, he and members Mike Settle, Thelma Camacho, Kin Vassy and Terry Williams broke away to become The First Edition. Their first hit came that same year with the psychedelic rock song, “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In),” eventually peaking at number five. After their 1969 hit “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town,” Rogers took a more active role as leader of the group, renaming it “Kenny Rogers and the First Edition.” After the group disbanded in 1976, Rogers signed with United Artists, changed his sound to a more mellow, country-oriented one and embarked on what would become a huge solo career.
Kenny Rogers / Radio Station Publicity Photo - RCA Records / Photo Credit: Matthew Rolston
Rogers charted more than sixty Top 40 hits, including the number one hit “Lucille” in 1977, his signature 1978 crossover hit “The Gambler” and a string of duets beginning with singer Dottie West. Other duets with Lynda Carter, Sheena Easton, Ronnie Milsap followed, including a notable number one collaboration with Dolly Parton, “Islands in the Stream” in 1983. The song was written by The Bee Gees and was featured on the album, Eyes That See in the Dark. It was the last country crossover to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 until Lonestar did so with “Amazed” in 2000.
Throughout the 1980s and into the 2010s, Rogers continued making hit records including participation in the charity single, “We Are The World” and became noted as an actor, including a five-part miniseries, The Gambler. He was also the host and narrator of the A&E series, The Real West. As an entrepreneur, Rogers founded the Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant chain and The Gambler Chassis Co., a manufacturer of sprint cars.
Rogers announced his farewell tour in 2015. Called The Gambler’s Last Deal, he announced that the final show on the tour would be on the Today show on NBC. His final concert in Nashville, Tennessee took place on October 25, 2017 with an all-star lineup joining him. Health problems, including bladder cancer, forced him into retirement.
Kenny Rogers passed away at age 81 at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia while under home hospice care on March 20, 2020.
Listen to the Story and Music of Kenny Rogers on The Wink Martindale Show on KWXY Music Radio 92.3FM ● 1340AM ● streaming at kwxy.com and ivoxradio.com