Staying on the road six months at a time without going home during his early marriages was among those selfish acts. He admitted to crossing that line many times. “There’s a fine line between being driven and being selfish,” Rogers wrote in his bestselling 2012 memoir, “Luck or Something Like It.” His husky voice conveyed the heart-wrenching tales of “Lady’s” knight in shining armor, the advice-dealing “Gambler” and “Lucille’s” lovelorn husband left with four hungry kids and a crop in the fields.īut that success, he repeatedly said, came with a steep price. Kinder reviews of his shows in this newspaper described Rogers “singing with musical understanding, subtlety and warmth” and another calling him “the kind of performer who generates undying, all-accepting love from his listeners.” (Kenny Rogers Roasters was referenced and ridiculed in shows ranging from “Seinfeld” to “Fresh Off the Boat.”) Rogers toed the line between risk-taking artist and crowd-pleasing performer, earning rave reviews from fans but the frequent critical ire of reviewers hoping for a fresh take on his classics.
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After that, they wanted me with everything they had.”Īt the height of his success, Rogers was a staple on the country-music charts, starred in TV movies and even fronted a fast-food chain bearing his name. I put an earring in my ear and wore sunglasses. I let my hair grow, I grew a beard - I got that from Dan Haggerty, the actor who was on TV at the time, and I liked the way he looked. “I was three or four years older than all of them,” Rogers said in 2014. When he started out in his first group, the First Edition, he was the oldest member. He modeled his aesthetic after “Grizzly Adams” star Dan Haggerty for a particular reason.
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Rogers believed he took country music to a mainstream audience, and he was instantly recognized for his signature look: a neatly trimmed beard, a shock of silver hair and flared shirt collars. “I never meant to do that, but on some of the songs through the years, like ‘She Believes in Me’ or ‘You Decorated My Life,’ those are not country country songs.” And I think, to some extent, I ‘popped’ it so much that it lost some of the pain,” Rogers told CMT in 2012.
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"The family is planning a small private service at this time out of concern for the national COVID-19 emergency," according to the statement released by his representatives. "They look forward to celebrating Kenny’s life publicly with his friends and fans at a later date." We wish the family, friends and fans of Kenny Rogers all the best during this obviously difficult time.Coming up in an era when Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson shaped the heart of the genre, Rogers remained a firm believer that country music was “the white man’s rhythm and blues.” “But since he’s gone AWOL and even his close friends aren’t hearing from him, you just fear the worst, that he’s decided to live out his final days with just his family at his side.” “Kenny has always tried to take the best, most optimistic approach to his health problems and not complain about what he’s going through,” according to the outlet in 2019. The singer reportedly developed the rather common ailment more than 25 years ago, although it’s unclear how he developed the liver disease. Kenny Rogers’ illness allegedly resulted from his previous battle with hepatitis C.Īccording to The National Enquirer, Kenny Rogers developed bladder cancer because of his previous battle with hepatitis C.