A Diverse Musical Background
Kenneth Ray Rogers entered country music with a broad musical background. Growing up in public housing in Houston, he was exposed to R&B, pop, and jazz in addition to country.
Rogers’s first professional group was a late-1950s vocal act called the Scholars, which had local hits in Houston. His doo-wop recording “That Crazy Feeling,” a 1958 solo hit on Carlton Records, earned him an appearance on American Bandstand.
During the early 1960s, Rogers played bass, and occasionally sang, in a Houston jazz trio. Membership in the New Christy Minstrels folk group spurred the founding of the First Edition, in which Rogers and other former Minstrels mixed folk, rock, and country sounds. The new group went #5 pop in 1967 with Mickey Newbury’s psychedelic “Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In)” and gained several additional pop hits on Reprise Records.
Solo Stardom
After the First Edition’s breakup in 1974, producer-executive Larry Butler signed Rogers to United Artists Records, on which he had modest hits until the stunning success of the mournfully catchy, Grammy-winning “Lucille” (#1 country, #5 pop) in 1977. For the next dozen years, Rogers logged hit after hit, including “The Gambler” (1978-‘79)—penned by Don Schlitz—”She Believes in Me” (1979), and “Coward of the County” (1979-‘80).
In 1980, on Liberty Records, Rogers’s #1 country hit “Lady”—a romantic ballad written by pop star Lionel Richie—ruled the pop charts for six weeks. His successful duets included “Every Time Two Fools Collide” (1978), with Dottie West, and the crossover smash “Don’t Fall in Love with a Dreamer”
Television and Movie Stardom
As the country-pop era reached a peak, Rogers piled up three Grammys, five Country Music Association awards, and eight Academy of Country Music awards, adding to his stature as one of country’s first artists to sell out arena shows. Already a veteran television performer, Rogers gained further exposure through acting in TV movies, including a series of five treatments of “The Gambler,” and his hit “Love the World Away” was a theme song in the era-defining 1980 film Urban Cowboy.
Conclusion
Despite being primarily known for his country music career, Kenny Rogers' journey to stardom was anything but straightforward. With a diverse musical background and successful stints in other genres, Rogers' rise to fame was a testament to his talent and versatility. Whether it was through his music or his acting, Rogers left an indelible mark on popular culture and will always be remembered as one of the most iconic artists of his time.
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