Kenny Rogers was an American country singer and songwriter. He died on March 20, 2020.
So let’s dive into some trivia about his life and career thus far.
- His full name was Kenneth Ray Rogers
- He was born on August 21, 1938
- He died on March 20, 2020
- He was an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur
- He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame
- He was most successful with country audiences
- Rogers, also, charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres
- He topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone
- He sold over 100 million records worldwide
- Making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time
- In the late 1950s, he started his recording career with jazz-singer Bobby Doyle
- He joined the folk ensemble the New Christy Minstrels in 1961
- He was playing double bass and bass guitar as well as singing
- In 1967, he and several members of the New Christy Minstrels left to found the group the First Edition
- With them he scored his first major hit
- This was “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)”, a psychedelic rock song
- It peaked at number five on the Billboard charts
- Rogers took an increased leadership role in the First Edition
- Following the success of 1969’s “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”, the band gradually changed styles to a more country feel
- The band broke up in 1975-1976
- Kenny Rogers embarked on a long and successful solo career
- This career included several successful collaborations
- Including duets with singers Dolly Parton and Sheena Easton
- And a songwriting partnership with Lionel Richie
- His signature song was 1978’s “The Gambler”
- This song became a cross-over hit that won him a Grammy Award in 1980
- It was selected in 2018 for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress
- He would develop the Gambler persona into a character for a successful series of television films
- This started with 1980’s Emmy-nominated Kenny Rogers as The Gambler
- Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, were 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 included the 2006 album release, Water & Bridges, an across the board hit
- The album 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, he continued to tour regularly
- He retired in 2017
- He acted in a variety of movies and television shows
- Most notably the title roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler and the MacShayne series for The NBC Mystery Movie
- He starred in the 1982 feature film Six Pack
- He was a co-founder of the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters in collaboration with former Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown Jr.
- The stores closed in the United States
- They are still a fixture in Asia
- Rogers was born the fourth of eight children on August 21, 1938, in Houston, Texas
- His mother was Lucille Lois, a nurse’s assistant
- His father was Edward Floyd Rogers, a carpenter
- Rogers was said to be of Irish and Native American ancestry
- Rogers attended Wharton Elementary School
- At a former estate in Colbert, Georgia, Rogers kept a pet goat named Smitty
- Having originally acquired the animal from a friend in 2008
- According to Rogers, the goat was “his center”, providing a calming influence after long and stressful touring schedules
- Kenny Rogers was married five times
- With each marriage lasting longer than the previous one
- He had five children
- He married Janice Gordon on May 15, 1958
- They divorced in April 1960 with one child
- Rogers married Jean Rogers in October 1960
- They were divorced in 1963
- He married Margo Anderson in October 1964
- They were divorced in 1976 with one child
- Rogers married Marianne Gordon on October 1, 1977
- They were divorced in 1993 with one child
- Rogers married for the fifth and final time when he married Wanda Miller on June 1, 1997
- The couple had twin sons together
- On March 20, 2020, Rogers died under hospice care at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, a representative for the singer said in a statement
- Due to the national COVID-19 emergency, the family is planning a small private service at this time with a public memorial planned for a later date
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