Kenny Rogers on his very first duet with Dolly: 'Once she came in and started singing the song was never the same. It took on a personality of its own.'
reigned for six weeks in 1980. At the time the song hit, Parton and Rogers were running somewhat parallel careers: Not only were they enjoying crossover success, but each had branched out into acting. Rogers starred in the 1982 movieand the beloved made-for-TV movies based on his hit"The Gambler.
" Parton, meanwhile, was on a cinematic hot streak thanks to star turns in 1980'sIncredibly enough, however, Parton and Rogers had never collaborated musically before"Islands in the Stream" -- save for Rogers'That fact wasn't lost on Maurice Gibb, as he recalled in"We imagined Dolly singing the other part on ["Islands in the Stream"], because she was the queen of country, he was the king, [but] they never sang together [before]. So it's a perfect sort of marriage." However, Rogers at first tried to sing the song solo; after four days of trying to nail his vocal part, he was frustrated. "I finally said, 'Barry [Gibb], I don’t even like this song anymore' and he said, 'You know what we need? We need Dolly Parton,'" Rogers toldin 2017. Incredibly enough, Parton happened to be downstairs from Rogers in the same studio complex, he recalled."My manager Ken Kragen said, 'I just saw her!' and I said, 'Well, go get her!' He went downstairs and she came marching into the room, and once she came in and started singing the song was never the same. It took on a personality of its own." That spark was evident from the pair's first live performance of theYet making"Islands in the Stream" a duet was for Rogers during this era. In 1978, he teamed up with country legend Dottie West for the duets album, whose title track topped the country charts. Rogers further expanded his sonic range with the Kim Carnes collaboration"Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer," a No. 4 Hot 100 hit in 1980. And in early 1983, Rogers and Sheena Easton teamed up for a cover of Bob Seger's"We've Got Tonight" that peaked at No. 6 on the Hot 100.Eyes That See in the DarkAt the time the country star came calling, Gibbs and brothers Robin and Maurice had retreated from their own music and were focused on writing for other artists. The move was wildly successful: After dominating pop music during the late-'70s disco era with the Bee Gees, the trio continued to have a prominent chart presence in the early '80s -- only this time as songwriters, producers and guest stars.and co-wrote "Woman In Love," which spent three weeks atop the Hot 100 . The following year, Streisand added two more top 10 smashes from, both duets with Barry: the title track -- which was written by all three brothers—and"What Kind of Fool" , another Barry co-write. Conway Twitty took a cover of the Bee Gees' 1978 b-side"Rest Your Love on Me" to No. 1 on the country charts in 1981. And in 1982, Dionne Warwick topped the adult contemporary chart and peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100 with"Heartbreaker," another song by all three Gibbs.Although widely cited as being written for Marvin Gaye, the Bee Gees actually had another Motown legend in mind as it came together."We were writing a song for Diana Ross, but she never got [a]round to hearing it, and Kenny wanted a song and we came up with this one," Barry Gibb said in."It was written as an R&B song, so it just shows you the relationship between the two types of songs that it could, in fact, turn into a country song very easily."Kenny Rogers Through the Years: A Retrospective , although he never lost sight of his strengths."I am a country singer with a tremendous amount of other influences. No matter what I do, it's always going to have a country influence to it. That's just where my heart is." That assessment proved prescient, as Rogers continued to enjoy major country success for the rest of the '80s, but"Islands in the Stream" would mark the end of his upper-echelon pop success. He only reached the Hot 100's top 40 three times after this, with the high point being"What About Me?" with Kim Carnes and James Ingram, which hit No. 15 in 1984. However,"Islands in the Stream" cemented a decades-long association with Dolly Parton, which kept Rogers in the mainstream eye. The pair had another No. 1 country hit in 1985 with. Parton and Rogers also released a best-selling holiday album, 1984'sAnd"Islands in the Stream" has taken on a life of its own over the years. It's been covered multiple times by country and pop acts: Barry Gibb did the song
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