THE LEGEND
Kenny Rogers
MORE TO THE COUNTRY LEGEND BY
Dave Gordon | PHOTO Courtesy of Webster PR
A
fter sixty years of being in the music industry, Kenny Rogers has finally hung up his cowboy hat, signed off on a last concert tour at age 78, and
is now looking forward to spending time with his family and his hobbies. If you grew up in the 1970s or 1980s, chances are you could recite the entire chorus to “The Gambler.” It’s stuck in your head — an indelible mark on our psyches as much as Rogers has made an indelible mark on the music industry. Few recall that he had a thriving career two decades beforehand — and certainly the three decades since his powerhouse hit, “The Gambler.” Beginning in the 1950s with a doo-wop group, he slid effortlessly into psychedelic rock, and moved seamlessly into the world’s best-known country-pop crossover artist, with some sixty Top 40 singles as a solo act. “I think that I’ve been really fortunate to have
the girls started screaming, and I thought I could live with that. So that’s how I got the name Kenny
been around that long,” he said humbly. Some of
Rogers. Absolutely, for the girls — why you go into
that had to do with talent of course, but there were
this business in the first place.”
other unexpected motivating factors along the way — including a change in name. Up until 1960, Kenneth Rogers — as he was called then — excitedly took up the opportunity of his first television appearance, on the Larry Kane
Thousands of screaming girls later, in 1967 — the year the Beatles released their Magical Mystery Tour – Rogers’ next band, First Edition, began recording. They chalked up a string of hits on both the pop
show, otherwise known as “Houston’s American
and country charts, including “Just Dropped In
Bandstand”.
(To See What Condition My Condition Was In),”
There was just one hitch. “Larry said that I couldn’t call myself Kenneth on a record, because it wasn’t catchy enough. But I told him that was my name!” Rogers recalled. “But then he introduced me as Kenny, and all
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“Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” “Reuben James,” and “Something’s Burning.” Something was not only burning — his career was on fire, particularly when he launched his solo act in 1976, after the band’s breakup.