KENNY ROGERS

Kenny Rogers was one of the first four performers featured in “We Are the World”, the best-selling single of all-time – written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones.

Rogers has recorded more than 65 albums and sold over 125 million records worldwide.  Rogers has won three Grammy awards, 11 People’s Choice Awards, 18 American Music Awards, eight Academy of Country Music awards and five Country Music Association awards and he still loves touring, and recording new music.  As Jones recently said with a smile, “Kenny’s my man!”

Houston-born Rogers formed his first band while in high school in 1956 and never quit making music from that point on. The spotlight started focusing on Rogers when his group, The First Edition, got their first hit, “I Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Within a year the band was called Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, and his distinctive voice led the group to both pop and country chart success with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town,” written by Mel Tillis.

In 1974, Rogers looked to country. He’d already had some success among country fans with the First Edition and he was drawn to the type of story songs that populated the genre. It was the perfect transition for him. “Love Lifted Me,” went Top 20 in 1975, but it was “Lucille” that shot him into the stratosphere. It was named the CMA’s Single of the Year and was certified Gold.

Then came “The Gambler,” a story song so vivid it not only delighted country and pop fans, it also became a TV movie, starring Rogers himself in the title role. The movie spawned four follow-ups, making it the longest running miniseries franchise on television. It started Rogers on a second career as an actor on television and in movies, including another TV movie based on one of his hit songs, “Coward of the County.”

In the 1980s, Rogers came to embody the role of the sensitive male, singing such romantic hits as “Through The Years,” “She Believes In Me,” “You Decorated My Life,” and “Lady,” the latter turning out to be biggest song of his career.

As the 1980s wound down, Rogers kept busy in other ways, but he never stopped making music.  A year after performing in “We Are The World,” Rogers co-chaired the audacious, “Hands Across America” fundraiser for America’s hungry.

In 1999, after forming his own record company, Dreamcatcher Records, Rogers found himself back on the country chart with “The Greatest.” When the follow-up, “Buy Me a Rose,” hit #1, Rogers proved that his talent was just as vibrant and meaningful as it was when he first started out.  That same year, the Recording Industry Association of America awarded Kenny the prestigious Diamond Award celebrating sales of more than 10 million albums for his Greatest Hits album.

He is currently the 8^th Best Selling Male Artist of all time according to the RIAA, with 20 Platinum® albums.

In 2006 Rogers, released yet another hit single, “I Can’t Unlove You,” from the album Water & Bridges. Produced by the award-winning Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Faith Hill), the album yet again put Kenny Rogers back on the charts and continued to further solidify his significance and continued viability in the music world.