From a Houston housing project, Kenny Rogers sold over 100 million records
Kenny Rogers grew up in a federal housing project in Houston, where his father never earned more than about $75 a week and dinner was sometimes just peanut butter sandwiches. He went on to sell more than 100 million records, jumping from jazz and psychedelic rock to become one of country's great crossover stars.
Born on August 21, 1938, the fourth of eight children of a carpenter and a nurse's assistant, Rogers won a talent show at the Texan Theatre in 1949 and swept floors at a hat shop for $9 a week. He told a TV audience in 1986 that he was the first in his family, as far back as anyone knew, to finish high school.
His early career zigzagged. A minor solo hit came in 1957, then years with the jazz outfit the Bobby Doyle Three and a stint singing and playing double bass with the folk group the New Christy Minstrels. In 1967 he and several bandmates broke away to form the First Edition, whose trippy Just Dropped In reached number five. As Rogers took the lead, the group drifted toward country with songs such as Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town.
Going solo in 1976 with producer Larry Butler, he broke through with Lucille in 1977, a pop chart-topper in 12 countries that sold more than five million copies. The Gambler followed in 1978, won a Grammy in 1980, turned into a run of TV films, and was later chosen for the Library of Congress sound archive. Lionel Richie wrote and produced his number-one hit Lady, and duets with Dottie West became country standards; West, he said, sang emotions rather than words.
Readers of USA Today and People voted him favourite singer of all time in 1986. He co-founded the Kenny Rogers Roasters chicken chain with a former KFC boss, and although it closed in the United States, it survives in Asia. He retired from touring in 2017, died on March 20, 2020, and had entered the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013.
Source: Kenny Rogers
