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Kenny Rogers
Singer and songwriter Kenneth Donald Rogers was born on August 21, 1938, in Houston, Texas. While his name was "Kenneth Donald" on his birth certificate, his family always called him "Kenneth Ray."
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Rogers grew up poor, living with his parents and six siblings in a federal housing project. By high school, he knew that he wanted to pursue a music career. He bought himself a guitar and started a group called the Scholars. The band had a rockabilly sound and scored a few local hits.
Breaking out on his own, Rogers recorded the 1958 hit single "That Crazy Feeling" for the Carlton label. He even got to perform the song on Dick Clark's popular music program American Bandstand. Changing genres, Rogers then played bass with the Bobby Doyle Trio, a jazz group.
Moving on to a folk-pop style, Rogers was asked to join the New Christy Minstrels in 1966. He left after a year, along with a few other members of the group, to form the First Edition. Fusing folk, rock and country, the group quickly scored a hit with the psychedelic "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." The band soon became known as Kenny Rogers and the First Edition and landed their own syndicated music show. They scored a few more hits, such as Mel Tillis' "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town."
In 1974, Rogers left the group to go solo again and decided to focus his energy on country music. "Love Lifted Me" became his first solo top 20 country hit in 1975. Two years later, Rogers reached the top of the country charts with the mournful ballad "Lucille," about a man being left by his wife. The song also did well on the pop charts, making it into the top five and bringing Rogers his first Grammy, for Best Country Vocal Performance, Male.
Quickly following up on this success, Rogers released The Gambler in 1978. The title track was again a huge country and pop hit and gave Rogers his second Grammy. He also showed his tender side with another popular ballad, "She Believes in Me." Kenny (1979) featured such hits as "Coward of the County" and "You Decorated My Life." Around this time, he wrote the advice book Making It With Music: Kenny Rogers' Guide to the Music Business (1978).
In addition to his solo work, Rogers recorded a series of hits with country legend Dottie West. The two reached the top of the country charts with "Every Time Two Fools Collide" (1978), "All I Ever Need Is You" (1979) and "What Are We Doin' in Love" (1981). Also in 1981, Rogers held the No. 1 spot on the pop charts for six weeks with his version of Lionel Richie's "Lady."
By this time, Rogers was a true crossover artist, enjoying enormous success on both the country and pop charts and collaborating with such pop stars as Kim Carnes and Sheena Easton. Turning to acting, Rogers starred in television movies inspired by his songs, like 1980's The Gambler, which spawned several sequels, and 1981's Coward of the County. On the big screen, he played a race car driver in the comedy Six Pack (1982).
In 1983, Rogers scored one of the biggest hits of his career: a duet with Dolly Parton called "Islands in the Stream." Written by the Bee Gees, the tune went to the top of both the country and pop charts. Rogers and Parton won the Academy of Country Music Award for Single of the Year for their efforts.
After this, Rogers continued to thrive as a country music performer. Among the hits from this period is his duet with Ronnie Milsap, "Make No Mistake, She's Mine," which won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Duet.
In 2004, Rogers and his fifth wife, Wanda, welcomed twin boys Jordan and Justin in July — just a month before his 66th birthday. "They say that twins at my age will either make you or break you. Right now I'm leaning towards break. I would kill for the energy they've got," Rogers, who already had three older children from his previous marriages, told People magazine. That same year he published his children's book, Christmas in Canaan, which was later turned into a TV movie.
In 2009, he celebrated his long career with Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years, a musical retrospective. By that point, he had recorded dozens of albums and sold more than 100 million copies worldwide.
In 2012, Rogers published the autobiography Luck or Something Like It. He received recognition for his substantial musical contributions in 2013 when he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. At the CMA Awards held that November, he also received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. Some of country's top performers turned out to honor Rogers, including Jennifer Nettles and Darius Rucker.
That same year Rogers released the album You Can't Make Old Friends, followed in 2015 by the holiday collection Once Again It's Christmas. Starting in December and going into 2016, the iconic singer/songwriter embarked on what he announced as his farewell tour.
Rogers died of natural causes at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, on March 20, 2020. He was 81.
