Kenny Rogers, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter who scored dozens of hits in both country and pop over six decades, has died at 81
Born August 21st, 1938, Kenneth Ray Rogers was the fourth of eight children, raised in the San Felipe Courts, a public-housing project in Houston’s Fourth Ward. Exposed to everything from jazz and R&B to pop and country, in 1956 Rogers was guitarist and backing vocalist in a doo-wop vocal group he formed at Jefferson Davis High School called the Scholars. In 1958, billed on the label as “Kenneth Rogers,” he scored a solo hit for Carlton Records called “That Crazy Feeling.
Signed to United Artists Records in 1974 by producer and Nashville label head Larry Butler, Rogers’ first LP there, , produced only minor hits. But in 1977, he would earn his first Number One country smash with the mournful barroom ballad “Lucille.” A Number One in the U.K., as well as Canada and Yugoslavia, the Hal Bynum-penned weeper paved the way for Rogers’ conversational singing style to make blockbuster hits of story-to-screen tales including “The Gambler” and “Coward of the County.
While “The Gambler” was a country-to-pop crossover hit, Rogers’ next several singles, alternating between ballads and story songs , kept his feet firmly planted in both worlds, culminating in a six-week Number One pop tune in “Lady,” penned by Lionel Richie.
Rogers’ sole starring role in a feature film was as racecar driver Brewster Baker in the 1982 comedy-drama which also featured a young Diane Lane. He also sang the film’s hit theme tune, “Love Will Turn You Around.” A year later, he notched yet another hit duet, with Sheena Easton, on Bob Seger’s “We’ve Got Tonight.”. They also topped the country charts again in 1985 with “Real Love.
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