Kenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers (born August 21, 1938) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Though he has been most successful with country audiences, he has 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 has sold over 120 million records worldwide, certifying his position as one of the best-selling music artists of all time. On September 25, 2015 he announced on NBC's "Today" Show that he was retiring from show business after a final tour to spend more time with his wife and twin boys.
Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, are 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 such awards as the AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003.
Kenneth Scott Rogers (born November 10, 1964 in Savannah, Georgia) is a former American Major League Baseball (MLB) left-handed pitcher. During a 20-year baseball career, he pitched from 1989 to 2008 for six different teams. In addition to being known for his fielding (winning five Gold Glove Awards), he pitched the fourteenth perfect game in major league baseball history. In 2008, he was the oldest baseball player in the American League.
Rogers is sometimes nicknamed "The Gambler", after a song made famous by a singer who shares his name.
Rogers grew up on a 15-acre (6.1 ha) farm in Dover, Florida.
He, his wife Rebecca Lewis, and children Jessica and Trevor Rogers reside in Westlake, Texas. He enjoys golf, fishing, and building houses for Habitat for Humanity.
Rogers was assigned to the Texas Rangers farm team after being drafted in the 39th round for $1,000 when he was 17 years old. He graduated from Plant City High School in Florida in 1982, where he played baseball only during his senior season, hitting .375 as a right fielder (he played shortstop in his senior league). He was converted into a pitcher on the strength of his throwing arm and left-handedness. Rogers spent seven years in the minor leagues before making it to the Rangers in 1989 as a reliever. He became a starting pitcher for the club in 1993.
Kenny Rogers is the title of Kenny Rogers' second solo album for United Artists Records, released worldwide in 1977. The album marked his first major solo success following the minor success of Love Lifted Me in 1976.
The album produced two singles. The first single, 1976's "Laura (What He's Got That I Ain't Got?)", peaked at #19. This song was originally a #1 country hit for Leon Ashley in 1967. In 1977, Kenny gained stardom with the single "Lucille", which climbed to the top of the country charts (both in the U.S. and Canada) and placing him squarely on the U.S. Hot 100 in the #5 position. It also blew open his solo career in the UK, reaching #1 there. Another track from the album is "I Wasn't Man Enough" which makes appearances on some of Rogers' greatest hits compilations in years to come.
The album reached #1 on the Country charts and ranked as high as #30 overall, and was certified Platinum in the U.S. (only reaching Gold in Canada).
Classics is a duet album by Kenny Rogers and Dottie West, released in 1979.
This album was Kenny Rogers' and Dottie West's second album together. Their previous album, Every Time Two Fools Collide, was a major seller, and made them one of the biggest duet acts country music has ever seen. This album was no different. The album sold very well, and peaked at number three on the Top Country Albums chart in 1979, and No.82 on the Billboard 200. This album featured cover versions of classic hits by other artists, including two country hit singles, one went to number one, called "All I Ever Need Is You" (a big hit for Sonny and Cher), and another went to number three, called "'Til I Can Make It on My Own" (a hit for Tammy Wynette).
The album was certified by the RIAA as Platinum. It has sold over 2 million copies world-wide.
Dorothy Marie "Dottie" West (October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists. Dottie West's career started in the 1960s, with her Top 10 hit, "Here Comes My Baby Back Again", which won her the first Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965. In the 1960s, West was one of the few female country singers working in what was then a male-dominated industry, influencing other female country singers like Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, and Tammy Wynette. Throughout the 1960s, West had Top 10 and Top 20 hits on the country music charts.
In the early 1970s, West wrote a popular commercial for the Coca-Cola company, titled "Country Sunshine", which reached No. 2 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles in 1973. In the late-70s, she teamed up with country pop superstar, Kenny Rogers for a series of duets which took her career to new highs, earning Platinum selling albums and No. 1 records for the very first time. Her duet recordings with Rogers, "Every Time Two Fools Collide", "All I Ever Need Is You", and "What Are We Doin' In Love", became country music standards. In the mid-1970s, her image and music underwent a metamorphosis, bringing her to the very peak of her popularity as a solo act, and reaching No. 1 for the very first time on her own in 1980 with "A Lesson in Leavin'".