Kenny Rogers trivia: 68 facts about the country legend

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.

1. His full name was Kenneth Ray Rogers
2. He was born on August 21, 1938
3. He died on March 20, 2020
4. He was an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur
5. He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame
6. He was most successful with country audiences
7. Rogers, also, charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres
8. He topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone
9. He sold over 100 million records worldwide
10. Making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time
11. In the late 1950s, he started his recording career with jazz-singer Bobby Doyle
12. He joined the folk ensemble the New Christy Minstrels in 1961
13. He was playing double bass and bass guitar as well as singing
14. In 1967, he and several members of the New Christy Minstrels left to found the group the First Edition
15. With them he scored his first major hit
16. This was “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)”, a psychedelic rock song
17. It peaked at number five on the Billboard charts
18. Rogers took an increased leadership role in the First Edition
19. Following the success of 1969’s “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”, the band gradually changed styles to a more country feel
20. The band broke up in 1975-1976
21. Kenny Rogers embarked on a long and successful solo career
22. This career included several successful collaborations
23. Including duets with singers Dolly Parton and Sheena Easton
24. And a songwriting partnership with Lionel Richie
25. His signature song was 1978’s “The Gambler”
26. This song became a cross-over hit that won him a Grammy Award in 1980
27. It was selected in 2018 for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress
28. He would develop the Gambler persona into a character for a successful series of television films
29. This started with 1980’s Emmy-nominated Kenny Rogers as The Gambler
30. Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, were featured in the About.com poll of “The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever”
31. He was voted the “Favorite Singer of All Time” in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People
32. He has received numerous awards such as the AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs
33. As well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003
34. Later success included the 2006 album release, Water & Bridges, an across the board hit
35. The album hit the Top 5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts
36. Also charting in the Top 15 of the Billboard 200
37. The first single from the album, “I Can’t Unlove You”, was also a sizable chart hit
38. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, he continued to tour regularly
39. He retired in 2017
40. He acted in a variety of movies and television shows
41. Most notably the title roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler and the MacShayne series for The NBC Mystery Movie
42. He starred in the 1982 feature film Six Pack
43. He was a co-founder of the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters in collaboration with former Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown Jr.
44. The stores closed in the United States
45. They are still a fixture in Asia
46. Rogers was born the fourth of eight children on August 21, 1938, in Houston, Texas
47. His mother was Lucille Lois, a nurse’s assistant
48. His father was Edward Floyd Rogers, a carpenter
49. Rogers was said to be of Irish and Native American ancestry
50. Rogers attended Wharton Elementary School
51. At a former estate in Colbert, Georgia, Rogers kept a pet goat named Smitty
52. Having originally acquired the animal from a friend in 2008
53. According to Rogers, the goat was “his center”, providing a calming influence after long and stressful touring schedules
54. Kenny Rogers was married five times
55. With each marriage lasting longer than the previous one
56. He had five children
57. He married Janice Gordon on May 15, 1958
58. They divorced in April 1960 with one child
59. Rogers married Jean Rogers in October 1960
60. They were divorced in 1963
61. He married Margo Anderson in October 1964
62. They were divorced in 1976 with one child
63. Rogers married Marianne Gordon on October 1, 1977
64. They were divorced in 1993 with one child
65. Rogers married for the fifth and final time when he married Wanda Miller on June 1, 1997
66. The couple had twin sons together
67. 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
68. 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