Kenny Rogers Informations

Kenneth Ray Rogers (born August 21, 1938) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Though he has been most successful with country audiences, Rogers has charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone, and has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. On September 25, 2015, Rogers announced on NBC's Today Show that he was retiring from show business after a final tour to spend more time with his wife and twin sons.

Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, are featured in the About.com poll of "The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever". He was voted the "Favorite Singer of All Time" in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People. He has received numerous awards such as the AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003.

Later success includes the 2006 album release, Water and Bridges, an across the board hit, that hit the Top 5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts, also charting in the Top 15 of the Billboard 200. The first single from the album, "I Can't Unlove You", was also a sizable chart hit. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, the following year he completed a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland, telling BBC Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright his favorite hit was "The Gambler". He has also acted in a variety of movies and television shows, most notably the title roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler and the MacShayne series as well as his appearance on The Muppet Show. He is also a co-founder of the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters in collaboration with former Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown Jr. .

Rogers was born the fourth of eight children on August 21, 1938, in Houston, Texas. His parents were Lucille Lois (née Hester; 1910–1991), a nurse's assistant, and Edward Floyd Rogers (1904–1975), a carpenter. Rogers is of Irish and Native American ancestry. Rogers attended Wharton Elementary School.

In a recording career dating back to the 1950s, Rogers moved from teenage rock'n'roll through psychedelic rock to become a country-pop crossover artist of the 1970s and 1980s. He had a minor solo hit in 1957 called "That Crazy Feeling". After sales slowed down, Rogers joined a jazz group called The Bobby Doyle Three, who got a lot of work in clubs thanks to a reasonable fan following. The group recorded for Columbia Records. They disbanded in 1965, and a 1966 jazzy rock single Rogers recorded for Mercury Records, called "Here's That Rainy Day", failed. Rogers also worked as a producer, writer and session musician for other performers, including country artists Mickey Gilley and Eddy Arnold. In 1966 he joined the New Christy Minstrels as a singer and double bass player.

Feeling that the Minstrels were not offering the success they wanted, Rogers and fellow members Mike Settle, Terry Williams, and Thelma Camacho left the group. They formed The First Edition in 1967 (later renamed "Kenny Rogers and The First Edition"). They were later joined by Kin Vassy. They chalked up a string of hits on both the pop and country charts, including "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", "But You Know I Love You", "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town", "Tell It All, Brother", "Reuben James", and "Something's Burning".

When the First Edition disbanded in 1976, Rogers launched his solo career. He soon developed a more middle-of-the-road sound that sold to both pop and country audiences. He has charted more than 60 top 40 hit singles (including two number ones—"Lady" and "Islands in the Stream"). His music has also been featured in top-selling movie soundtracks, such as Convoy, Urban Cowboy, and The Big Lebowski.

After leaving the First Edition in 1976, after almost a decade with the group, Rogers signed a solo deal with United Artists. Producer Larry Butler and Rogers began a partnership that would last four years.

Rogers first outing for his new label was Love Lifted Me. The album charted and two singles, "Love Lifted Me" and "While the Feeling's Good", were minor hits. The song "Runaway Girl" was featured in the motion picture Trackdown. Later in 1976, Rogers issued his second album, the self-titled Kenny Rogers, whose first single, "Laura (What's He Got That I Ain't Got)", was another solo hit.

The single "Lucille" (1977) was a major hit, reaching number one on the pop charts in 12 countries, selling over five million copies, and firmly establishing Rogers' post-First Edition career. On the strength of "Lucille", the album Kenny Rogers reached No. 1 in the Billboard Country Album Chart. More success was to follow, including the multi-platinum selling album The Gambler and another international Number 1 single, "Coward of the County", taken from the equally successful album, Kenny. In 1980, the Rogers/Butler partnership came to an end, though they would occasionally reunite: in 1987 on the album I Prefer the Moonlight and again in 1993 on the album If Only My Heart Had a Voice.

In the late 1970s, Rogers teamed up with close friend and Country Music legend Dottie West for a series of albums and duets. Together the duo won 2 gold records (1 of which later went platinum), 2 CMA Awards, an ACM nomination, two Grammy nominations and 1 Music City News Award for their two hit albums "Every Time Two Fools Collide" (#1) and "Classics" (#3), selling out stadiums and arenas while on tour for several years, as well as appearing on several network television specials which showcased them. Their hits together "Every Time Two Fools Collide" (#1), "Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight" (#2), "What Are We Doin' in Love" (#1), "All I Ever Need Is You" (#1) and "Till I Can Make It On My Own" (#3) all became Country standards. Of West, Rogers stated in a 1995 TNN interview: "She, more than anybody else I ever worked with, sang with such emotion that you actually believed what she sang. A lot of people sing words, Dottie West sang emotions." In a 1978 press release for their album "Every Time Two Fools Collide", Rogers credited West with further establishing and cementing his career with Country Music audiences. In the same release, West credited him with taking her career to new audiences. Rogers was with West only hours before she died at age 58 after sustaining injuries in a 1991 car accident, as discussed in his 2012 biography "Luck Or Something Like It". In 1995 he starred as himself, alongside Michele Lee as West, in the CBS biographical film Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story.

In 1980, a selection he recorded as a duet with Kim Carnes, "Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer", became a major hit. Earlier that year, he sang a duet of "You and Me" with Lynda Carter in her television music special Lynda Carter Special (Rogers originally recorded this with Dottie West for the Every Time Two Fools Collide album). Later in 1980 came his partnership with Lionel Richie who wrote and produced Rogers' No. 1 hit "Lady". Richie went on to produce Rogers's 1981 album Share Your Love, a chart topper and commercial favorite featuring hits such as "I Don't Need You" (Pop No. 3), "Through the Years" (Pop No. 13), and "Share Your Love with Me" (Pop No. 14). His first Christmas album was also released that same year. In 1982, Rogers released the album Love Will Turn You Around. The album's the title track reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hit 100 and topped the country and AC charts. It was the theme song of Rogers' 1982 film Six Pack. Shortly afterwards, he started working with producer David Foster in 1983 recording the smash Top 10 hit Bob Seger cover "We've Got Tonight", a duet with Sheena Easton. Also a #1 single on the Country charts in the United States, it reached the Top 30 on the British charts.

In 1981, Rogers bought the old ABC Dunhill building and built one of the most popular and state-of-the-art recording studios in Los Angeles. The song "We Are The World" was recorded there.

Rogers went on to work with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees who produced his 1983 hit album Eyes That See in the Dark, featuring the title track and yet another No. 1 hit "Islands in the Stream", a duet with Dolly Parton. Gibb, along with his brothers, Robin and Maurice, originally wrote the song for Marvin Gaye in an RandB style, only later to change it for the Kenny Rogers album. The partnership with Gibb only lasted one album, which was not surprising considering that Rogers' original intention was to work with Gibb on only one song. Gibb insisted on doing the entire album together.

"Islands in the Stream", Rogers' duet with Dolly Parton, was the first single to be released from Eyes That See in the Dark in the United States, and it quickly went to No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 (it would prove to be the last country single to reach No. 1 on that chart until "Amazed" by Lonestar did so in 2000), as well as topping Billboard's country and adult contemporary singles charts; it was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipping two million copies in the United States. Rogers would reunite with Parton in 1984 for a holiday album, "Once Upon a Christmas" and TV special "Kenny and Dolly: A Christmas to Remember" (which resulted in a popular video of "Christmas Without You"), as well as a 1985 duet "Real Love", which also topped the U.S. country singles chart. The two would continue to collaborate on occasional projects through subsequent years, including a 2013 duet single "You Can't Make Old Friends".

Despite the success of "Islands in the Stream", however, RCA Records insisted on releasing Eyes' title track as the first UK single, and the song stalled at a disappointing No. 61 there, although it did stay in the top 100 for several weeks. (When it was eventually released in the United States, it was more successful, charting high on the Adult Contemporary chart and making the country top 30.) "Islands in the Stream" was issued as a follow-up single in Britain and sold well, making No. 7. The album itself reached No. 1 on the country charts on both sides of the Atlantic and enjoyed multi-million sales. "Buried Treasure", "This Woman" and "Evening Star"/"Midsummer Nights" were also all successful singles from the album.

Shortly after came the album What About Me?, a hit whose title track, a trio performance with James Ingram and Kim Carnes, was nominated for a Grammy Award; the single "Crazy" (not to be confused with the Willie Nelson-penned Patsy Cline hit) topped the country charts. David Foster was to work again with Rogers in his 1985 album The Heart of the Matter, although this time Foster was playing backing music rather than producing, a role given to George Martin. This album was another success, going to No. 1, with the title track making to the top ten category in the singles charts.

The next few years saw Rogers scoring several top country hits on a regular basis, including "Twenty Years Ago", "Morning Desire", "Tomb of the Unknown Love", among others. On January 28, 1985, Rogers was one of the 45 artists who recorded the worldwide charity song "We Are the World" to support hunger victims in Africa. The following year he played at Giants Stadium.

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