cma male vocalist of the year, 1979
with lionel richie
with the first edition • 074-077 HOF13.indd 5
Ke n ny Rog e rs Modern era artist
▼ born aug. 21, 1938 in houston, texas ▼ learned to play guitar and joined first band, the scholars, while a senior in high school ▼ in 1966, joined the new christy Minstrels as singer and bass player where he stayed for a year before leaving with three other members to form the first edition ▼ signed to united artists as a solo act in 1975 ▼ had first major hit as solo artist in 1977 with “lucille,” which topped the country chart, earned a cMa award for single of the year, and became a major crossover hit peaking at no. 5 on pop charts ▼ released three no. 1, multi-million selling albums, love or something like it, the gambler, and kenny between 1978 and 1980 ▼ in the late 70’s, teamed with close friend dottie West and recorded a series of duets ▼ recording of lionel richie’s “lady” in 1980 spent six weeks at the top of the pop charts. collaboration was so successful that richie produced rogers' 1981 project, share your love ▼ 1983 duet with dolly parton, “islands in the stream,” reached no. 1 spot on the billboard hot 100 and was certified double platinum ▼ one of 45 artists who participated in recording of “We are the World” in 1985 to raise money for african famine relief ▼ throughout 80s and 90s, appeared in the movie “six pack” as well as made-for-tv movies such as “the gambler”, “coward of the county,” and “christmas in america” ▼ formed his own label in 1998 and returned to the charts with the hit single “the greatest” ▼ became a new york times best-selling author when he published his autobiography, luck or something like it – a Memoir in 2012
cma awards
“When i Was young, My dad said, ‘son, you have to think big to accoMplish sMall’ and the country Music hall of faMe Was as big as it gets. he Wanted that for me. So every record i’ve ever Made, every concert i’ve perforMed, and every song i’ve Written Was done for the single purpose of achieving that goal.”
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