Country legend Kenny Rogers dies at 81 after a wild life that saw him marry five times and suffer a huge phone sex scandal
HE was as much a legend for his love of women as he was for the hit songs that made him a global superstar who sold 120million albums worldwide.
Dolly later said: “I’m not his type. We are almost like brother and sister. So we just never went there.”Kenny was one of the most successful country-pop crossover acts and the tenth best selling artist in historyHe once summed up his global popularity by saying, 'I do ballads that say what every man wants to say and that every woman wants to hear.'Credit: Getty Images - Getty
He had 20 No1 singles from 1977 to 1987 and was inducted into Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013, getting a lifetime achievement award and playing the Legends slot at Glastonbury the same year.He once said: “You either do what everyone else is doing and do it better or you do what no one else is doing and you don’t invite comparison.
Kenny married first wife Janice Gordon on May 15, 1958. In his 2012 memoir Luck Or Something Like It he revealed that the first time they had sex, Janice got pregnant with their daughter Carole, which led him to marry her. Finally, in June 1997, he married his “soulmate” Wanda Miller, 52, who, despite a 28-year age gap, he described as the love of his life. They had twin boys, Justin and Jordan, now 14. He said: “She’s 28 years younger than me, and I say this from the bottom of my heart — she is my soulmate.The Grammys’ official Twitter account posted 'Kenny Rogers was a Country Music Legend who inspired so many through his work. Thank you Kenny. RIP.
His childhood was tough, with an alcoholic father, and he was raised in social housing with seven brothers and sisters. Kenny said: “The first eight hours were the most incredible eight hours of my life, the second eight hours I wasn’t sure about and the third eight hours scared me to death.He has also admitted he performed on stage while high on cannabis and rambled to the bemused audience.He said: “I thought I was great, I was having the time of my life. I came off the stage, the guys in the band said, ‘What were you talking about when you went off on this thing about the zoo?’.
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