Perhaps one of the most beloved voices in country music during the 80s, Kenny Rogers has done just about everything – writing, performing, producing, acting - even running a successful chain of fried chicken restaurants and acting as a spokesman for the Barona Valley Indian Casino in Southern California – which makes sense when you consider that this white-haired country crooner will forever be linked to the down-home persona of “The Gambler.”

But long before Kenny learned how to hold em’ and fold em’, his career started in the 50s as a producer, writer and session musician. His first success as a performer was in the New Christie Minstrels in 1996 where he sang and played bass guitar. That experience led to his own act, Kenny Rogers and the New Edition, who scored a number of mild hits on the pop charts with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” Something’s Burnin” and “Reuben James.” Fans of his country years likely wouldn’t have recognized him during these years, with his long hair, pink sunglasses and dangling earring, but that was soon to change.     

When Rogers left the New Edition in 1976, after almost a decade of working with them, he was immediately signed to a solo deal. He soon proved his ability to land hits on the pop charts with songs like “Love Lifted Me” and “Laura (What’s He Got That I Ain’t Got).” But it was a country ballad called “Lucille” in 1977 that truly catapulted his career, putting the song and the album in the #1 spot on the charts and selling over five million copies. He would follow that success with perhaps his best-known endeavor, The Gambler. Another multi-million seller, it would proceed to turn him into a legendary superstar, known throughout the world.

Far from being just a country artist, Rogers had immense crossover appeal on the pop charts as well. By 1980, he had another #1 hit with the Lionel Richie-penned “Lady” and other hits such as “Through the Years.”  He would score another #1 in 1983 with “Islands in the Stream,” a duet he performed with country legend Dolly Parton. That same year, he would lend his voice, along with 44 other pop legends, to “We Are The World,” the highly-successful charity song which aimed to fight hunger in Africa. In 1985, his first “Greatest Hits” album was released, which stayed in the top two positions on the UK pop charts for over four years.  

Even with the substantial changes to country music in recent years, Kenny Rogers has still managed to keep his career afloat. A tireless performer, he still travels the world, crooning out his country hits to loyal fans. In 2000, he scored yet another #1 hit with “Buy Me a Rose, making him the oldest performer to ever top the country charts at the time. He released another successful compilation in 2004, titled 42 Ultimate Hits, which spanned his career from his days with First Edition to the present.

His attempt to become a modern day Colonel Sanders didn’t quite pay off (there is only one remaining Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant left, in Ontario, CA) but that hasn’t managed to slow Kenny down one bit. The Gambler is still pulling in crowds wherever he performs, still having no desire nor reason to fold’ em. And if history is any indication, it would be no surprise to find he still has a few aces up his sleeve.