American Country music singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor and entrepreneur. He has charted more than 70 hit singles across various music genres and topping the country and pop album charts for more than 420 individual weeks in the United States alone. -Ever heard of Kenny Rogers !
-Who?
-Kenny Rogers from the Big Lebowsky OST ?
-oh yeah, that guy !
-"That guy "
When one singer makes such an indelible mark, that's not mere luck or even simple talent. "I really, really love what I'm doing," Rogers says. "People survive longer if they love what they're doing. Because you just don't quit." This is a singer of who i always wanted to know and share more about. But i really didn´t know what to say about him, heard the song a few years ago at a friend´s place just to hear it again as one of the main theme songs of the movie "Big Lebowski " as you´ll read further in detail, well here it goes, check it out it really worths the time.
So, about Kenny Rogers, Kenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers (born August 21, 1938 ).
Well his career began in the mid-1950s, when he recorded with a doo-wop group called The Scholars who had some success with a single called "Poor Little Doggie". Rogers was not the lead singer of the group and after two more singles they disbanded when their leader went solo.
Now on his own, Kenneth Rogers (as he was billed then) followed the break up with his own single, a minor solo hit called "That Crazy Feeling" (1958). After sales slowed down, Rogers joined a jazz group called The Bobby Doyle Trio, who got a lot of work in clubs thanks to a reasonable fan following and also recorded for Columbia Records. The group disbanded in 1965, and a 1966 jazzy rock single Rogers recorded for Mercury Records, called "Here's That Rainy Day" failed. Rogers also worked as a producer, writer and session musician for other performers; including country artists Mickey Gilley and Eddy Arnold. In 1966 he joined the New Christy Minstrels as a singer and double bass player.
Feeling that the Minstrels were not offering the success they wanted, Rogers and fellow members Mike Settle, Terry Williams and Thelma Camacho left the group. They formed The First Edition in 1967 (later renamed "Kenny Rogers and The First Edition"). They chalked up a string of hits on both the pop and country charts, including "Something's Burning", "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town", "Reuben James" and "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)." In his First Edition days, Rogers had something of a hippie image, with long brown hair, an earring, and pink sunglasses. Known affectionately in retrospect as "Hippie Kenny", Rogers had a much smoother vocal style than in his later career.
When the group split in 1976, Rogers launched his solo career. Rogers soon developed a more middle of the road sound, with a somewhat rough but tuneful voiced style that sold to both pop and country audiences; to date, he has charted more than 60 top 40 hit singles (including upwards of 25 #1's) and 50 of his albums have charted. His music has also been featured in top selling movie soundtracks, such as Convoy, Urban Cowboy and finally the spotlight started focusing on Rogers when the group 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. The double-genre success struck again with "Reuben James," and the group landed their own TV variety show. Though theoretically a country singer, Rogers dominated the pop charts, consistently finding songs with universal appeal. "I've never considered myself a great singer, but I am a great storyteller," Rogers told Billboard magazine, also noting that he feels his strength as an artist is in finding great songs. In the 1980s he 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 biggest song of his career. Those songs are classics today, sung at countless weddings, and even engraved on tombstones.
"I've always been like a boomerang." Rogers says. "You can throw me away, but you can rest assured that I'm coming back. It's not necessarily about success for me. It's not about being the biggest star in the world. I think for all intents and purposes, if you go back to the peak of my career, I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish. To do that again doesn't excite me. But to just be there and to be a force and have people care about what you're recording, that's the greatest gift you can have." discography:- Love Lifted Me (1976)
- Kenny Rogers (1976)
- Daytime Friends (1977)
- Love Or Something Like It (1978)
- The Gambler (1978)
- Kenny (1979)
- Gideon (1980)
- Christmas (1981)
- Share Your Love (1981)
- Love Will Turn You Around (1982)
- Eyes That See In The Dark (1983)
- We've Got Tonight (1983)
- What About Me? (1984)
- Sunshine (1985)
- The Heart Of The Matter (1985)
- I Prefer The Moonlight (1987)
- Something Inside So Strong (1989)
- Love Is Strange (1990)
- If Only My Heart Had A Voice (1993)
- Timepiece (Orchestral Sessions) (1994)
- The Gift (1996)
- Always & Forever (1997)
- She Rides Wild Horses (1999)
- Christmas Greetings (2000)
- There You Go Again (2000)
- Back To The Well (2003)
- Cue (1957, with the band The Scholars and also as a solo singer)
- Carlton (1958, solo deal)
- KenLee (one single, label owned by Rogers and his brother Lelan)
- Columbia (1960s, with jazz combo, The Bobby Doyle Three)
- Reprise (1967, with The First Edition, all material recorded during this time has since been acquired by Universal Music)
- Jolly Rogers (1973, with The First Edition, label was owned by Rogers)
- United Artists (1975, solo deal)
- Liberty (1980, United Artists merged into EMI/Capitol in 1980; some pressings of albums were issued on Capitol's imprint labels, EMI, EMI America, and EMI Manhattan.)
- RCA (1983, solo deal)
- Reprise (1989, solo deal)
- Giant (1993, one solo album)
- Atlantic (1994, one solo album)
- onQ Music (1996, one solo album; onQ Music was created by the QVC Network to release exclusive albums for sale only on QVC. The first onQ release was Rogers' Vote for Love, a two-disc set that would later become available in standard retail stores.)
- Magnatone (1996, solo deal)
- Dreamcatcher (1998, solo deal; Dreamcatcher was owned and run by Rogers and Jim Mazza for the purpose of releasing Rogers albums and certain reissues of Rogers' catalog. Other artists such as Marshall Dyllon and Randy Dorman were released on Dreamcatcher Records, also. The label closed in 2004)
- Capitol Nashville (2004, solo deal)
sources :
http://kennyrogers.musiccitynetworks.com/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0737006/
http://music.aol.ca/article/kenny-rogers-celebrates-new-project-of-old-classics/336423/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Rogers
http://countrymusic.about.com/library/top200albums/bltop200.htm
Written by Pedro Rodrigues
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