Across social media, friends and fans mourned country music legend Kenny Rogers.
Rogers, the smooth, Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on record and on TV died Friday night. He was 81.
The Rogers family announced his death on Twitter. They said he died “peacefully” under hospice care in his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia.
Early Saturday celebrities reacted to the news.
Dolly Parton shared a video tribute on Twitter to her “singing partner.”
“I know that we all know that Kenny is in a better place than we are today and I’m pretty sure that he’s going to be talking to God sometime today… and he’s going to be asking him to spread some light on a bunch of this darkness,” Parton said in her video. “I loved Kenny with all my heart. My heart’s broken. A big ol’ chunk of it has gone with him today.”
Parton then got emotional as she held up a photo of her and Rogers.
“God bless you Kenny, fly high straight into the arms of God,” Parton said. “To the rest of you, keep the faith.”
Blake Shelton remembered Rogers as always being a “kind and fun” person.
“I can’t express on Twitter the impact Kenny Rogers the artist and the man had on me. He was always very kind and fun to be around. Rest In Peace Gambler…,” the “Austin” artist wrote.
Piers Morgan shared a photo of the Houston-born performer, to express his sadness. “RIP Kenny Rogers, 81. What incredibly sad news. One of the all-time great country music stars & an utterly charming man,” Morgan wrote.
Stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt shared his favorite memory of Rogers on Twitter.
“I was on an episode of ‘Reno 911!’ where I played a crazed stalker who shoots Kenny Rogers,” Oswalt wrote. “The cast loved him, he told great stories, and was a joy to be around. And “The Gambler” is a truly great song. #RIPKennyRogers.”
Larry the Cable Guy took to Twitter to thank Rogers for his contributions to the music world. “Oh man Kenny Rogers just died,” he wrote. “RIP Gambler. Thanks for all the great music.”
Charlie Daniels also recognized the Rogers’ music as classics that will continue to make an impact in the world.
“Thank you Kenny Rogers for being a part of our lives for so long. Your songs are woven into the fabric of our memories, classics, that will live on in the musical heart of a world that will miss you so much. Rest in peace Gambler,” Daniels tweeted.
Others simply tweeted lyrics to Rogers’ hits including “Islands In The Stream” which he sang with Dolly Parton.
The Houston-born performer with the husky voice and silver beard sold tens of millions of records, won three Grammys and was the star of TV movies based on “The Gambler” and other songs, making him a superstar in the ‘70s and ’80s. Rogers thrived for some 60 years before retired from touring in 2017 at age 79. Despite his crossover success, he always preferred to be thought of as a country singer.
Morgan Hines, USA TODAY
USA TODAY Entertainment
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. Though he was most successful with country audiences, Rogers charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres, topped the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone, and sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
In the late 1950s, he started his recording career with jazz-singer Bobby Doyle, and joined the folk ensemble the New Christy Minstrels in 1961, playing double bass and bass guitar as well as singing. In 1967, he and several members of the New Christy Minstrels left to found the group the First Edition, with whom he scored his first major hit, “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)”, a psychedelic rock song which peaked at number five on the Billboard charts. As Rogers took an increased leadership role in the First Edition, and following the success of 1969’s “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”, the band gradually changed styles to a more country feel. The band broke up in 1975–1976, and Kenny Rogers embarked on a long and successful solo career, which included several successful collaborations, including duets with singers Dolly Parton and Sheena Easton, and a songwriting partnership with Lionel Richie. His signature song, 1978’s “The Gambler”, was a cross-over hit that won him a Grammy Award in 1980 and was selected in 2018 for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. He would develop the Gambler persona into a character for a successful series of television films starting with 1980’s Emmy-nominated Kenny Rogers as The Gambler.
Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, were featured in the About.com poll of “The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever”. He was voted the “Favorite Singer of All Time” in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People. He has received numerous awards such as the AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003. Later success included the 2006 album release, Water & Bridges, an across the board hit, that hit the Top 5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts, also charting in the Top 15 of the Billboard 200. The first single from the album, “I Can’t Unlove You”, was also a sizable chart hit. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, he continued to tour regularly until his retirement in 2017.
He acted in a variety of movies and television shows, most notably the title roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler and the MacShayne series for The NBC Mystery Movie, and the 1982 feature film Six Pack. He was a co-founder of the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters in collaboration with former Kentucky Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown Jr.. Although the stores closed in the United States, they are still a fixture in Asia.
Tonight, on the LP lounge at 10pm NYC time we offer our 3rd (and final) show centered on the Stylistics. We take three of their Japan-only quad LPs, decode them, then, with the help of the Australian company’s Involve Encoder – put them into a surround format you can enjoy over the Internet.
A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector (originally released as A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records) is an album of Christmas songs, produced by Phil Spector, and originally released as Philles 45 in 1963. Spector treated a series of mostly secular Christmas standards to his “Wall of Sound” treatment, and the selections feature the vocal performances of Spector’s regular artists during this period. The album peaked at No. 13 on Billboard magazine’s special, year-end, weekly Christmas Albums sales chart in December 1963.
The Stranger is the fifth studio album by American singer Billy Joel, released in September 1977 by Columbia Records. It was the first of Joel’s albums to be produced by Phil Ramone, with whom he would go on to work for all of his albums up until his 1986 album The Bridge.
I’m Still in Love with You is the fifth studio album by the American gospel and soul singer Al Green, released on October 23, 1972, on Hi Records. Recording sessions took place during 1972. The album was produced solely by Willie Mitchell. The album peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200 and number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and produced four singles: “Love and Happiness” which was rated ninety-eight on Rolling Stones’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time as well as “I’m Still in Love with You” and “Look What You Done for Me” which were top five hits on the US Pop Chart. In 2003, the album was ranked number 285 on the 500 greatest albums of all time by Rolling Stone, and 286 in a 2012 revised list.
Call Me is the sixth album by soul singer Al Green. It is widely regarded as Green’s masterpiece, and has been called one of the best soul albums ever made. In 2003 the TV network VH1 named it the 70th greatest album in any genre. Call Me was a Top 10 Billboard Pop Album, and the third #1 Soul Album. In 2003, the album was ranked number 289 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and 290 in a 2012 revised list. Praised for his emotive singing style, Green here incorporates country influences, covering both Willie Nelson and Hank Williams. This album contained three top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100: “You Ought to Be with Me,” “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)” and “Call Me (Come Back Home).”
Minnie Julia Riperton-Rudolph (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979), was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single “Lovin’ You” and her five-octave coloratura soprano range. She is also widely known for her use of the whistle register and has been referred to by the media as the “Queen of the whistle register”. Born in 1947, Riperton grew up in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side. As a child, she studied music, drama and dance at Chicago’s Lincoln Center. In her teen years, she sang lead vocals for the Chicago-based girl group the Gems. Her early affiliation with the legendary Chicago-based Chess Records afforded her the opportunity to sing backup for various established artists such as Etta James, Fontella Bass, Ramsey Lewis, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. While at Chess, Riperton also sang lead for the experimental rock/soul group Rotary Connection, from 1967 to 1971.
Two albums featured this evening. Santana’s Abraxas and Steely Dan’s Can’t Buy A Thrill.
It’s a full day of Country Quad on EZMaxMusic
Bobby Goldsboro (born January 18, 1941) is an American pop and country singer-songwriter. He had a string of pop and country hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including his signature No. 1 hit “Honey”, which sold over one million copies in the United States.
Poco is an American country rock band originally formed by Richie Furay, Jim Messina and Rusty Young. Formed following the demise of Buffalo Springfield in 1968, Poco was part of the first wave of the West Coast country rock genre. The title of their first album, Pickin’ Up the Pieces, is a reference to the break-up of Buffalo Springfield. Throughout the years Poco has performed in various groupings, and is still active.
#10 is the eleventh studio album by the Canadian rock band The Guess Who. The title derives from its being the band’s tenth overall release. (That number seems to include both a live album and best-of compilation, but to not include offshoot releases of the band’s early recordings prior to 1969.) It was originally released in 1973 by RCA Records.
Road Food is the twelfth studio album by the Canadian rock band The Guess Who and the last to feature guitarists Kurt Winter and Donnie McDougall.
Guess Who and was released in 1971. It reached number 12 on the Billboard LPs chart and has been issued on CD twice; the first CD issue in 1988 on RCA, replaced the single version of American Woman with the longer album version; and then a digitally remastered reissue issued by Legacy Recordings in 2006 with 3 bonus tracks and the single version restored. Side Two of the album consists of five songs from their previous album Share the Land; “Hand Me Down World”, “Bus Rider”, “Share the Land”, “Do You Miss Me Darlin’?” and an edited single version of “Hang On to Your Life” (without the Psalm 22 excerpt that closes the album version).
Tony Orlando and Dawn is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s. Their signature hits include “Candida”, “Knock Three Times”, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree”, “Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose”, and “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)”.
Following a guest appearance on the preceding Dragon Fly, Jefferson Airplane founder Marty Balin returned as a fully integrated member of the ensemble. Balin wrote or co-wrote five of the ten tracks on the album, including “Miracles.” The group attempted to create a commercialized sound which was a total contrast to their past works, paving the musical direction of their next two albums. – Wikipedia
The Best of Aretha Franklin is a 1973 compilation by Aretha Franklin. It contains alternate takes and is one of only a few quadraphonic releases. It was reissued on DVD-Audio by Rhino Handmade in August 2010. It is not to be confused with a 1984 compilation of the same name.
Aretha Live at Fillmore West is the third live album by American singer Aretha Franklin. Released on May 19, 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was reissued on compact disc in 1993 through Rhino Records. An expanded, limited edition 4-CD box set entitled, Don’t Fight the Feeling: The Complete Aretha Franklin & King Curtis Live at Fillmore West was released by Rhino in 2005. This was limited to 5000 numbered copies. In addition, there is a guest duet vocal by Ray Charles on “Spirit in the Dark”.
Tonight the LP Lounge drops a needle on the best concert recording of the 1970s. And we have two reasons, beyond the quality of the recording, that make this broadcast worth listening in on (in our own humble opinion) – First, we’ve taken the original quadraphonic vinyl, demodulated it into it’s 4 separate channels, then re-encoded it using the QS system so you can actually get a reasonable approximation of the Quad mix (either by using regular stereo headphones, or playing it through a Dolby pro-logic home theater system) – the other reason – we are bringing you the 12 minutes of Elvis that was cut from the original broadcast when RCA put it on LP. These are being played in QS surround sound as well (even though these were never on LP, we hope you won’t mind). You can hear us on RadioMaxMusic.com, or using the tuneIn app – look for RadioMaxMusic! Encore Thursday 12am ET
Holiday is the fourth studio album by the American folk rock band America, released on the Warner Bros. Records label in June 1974. The album was produced in London by noted record producer George Martin.
Hearts is the fifth studio album by American folk rock trio America, released by Warner Bros. Records in 1975. The album was produced by Beatles producer George Martin.
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