Spotlight On Kenny Rogers - The Gambler's
Last Deal World Tour Photos by Glenda S.
Paradee
Kenny Rogers brought his The
Gambler's Last Deal show to the Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, AZ on
June 26, 2016.
His concert was fantastic with songs and videos of his life in
music and from his movies.
His special guest was Linda Davis, who had a number one hit "Does
He Love You" with Reba McEntire. She really added some great
music to the show.
Rogers sounded wonderful and looked great too. He put on an
awesome show with all of his hits from throughout his long and
successful career. Rogers also added many stories throughout
the evening. He brought his humor with him too. 
Rogers won the audience over and he also won the hand that was
dealt to him! We are going to miss Mr. Kenny Rogers.
Now Kenny, go spend some time with your twin boys and your
wife.
If his world tour comes to your city, go see him, you will be
glad you did.
Thanks For The Music Kenny!
More on Kenny:
GRAMMY Award-winning country superstar and music icon Kenny
Rogers has enjoyed great success during his storied career of nearly
six decades.
The enduring Country Music Hall of Fame member and pop superstar
has endeared music lovers around the globe with his amazing songs,
heartfelt performances, distinctive voice, gift for storytelling and
universal appeal, and in 2016, Rogers is embarking on what will be
his final world tour with a show that will celebrate his musical
legacy: The Gambler's Last Deal.
Rogers has played to millions of fans around the world,
performing chart-topping songs from a rich catalog of hits,
including "The Gambler," "Lady," "Islands In The Stream," "Lucille,"
"Coward of the County," "She Believes In Me," "Ruby, Don't Take Your
Love To Town," "We've Got Tonight," "Daytime Friends," "Through The
Years," "Love Will Turn You Around," "You Decorated My Life,"
"Crazy," "Every Time Two Fools Collide," and "Buy Me A Rose."
The first country artist to consistently sell out arenas, Rogers
has played to millions of fans around the world. Incredibly, he has
charted a record within each of the last seven decades ('50s, '60s,
'70s, '80s, '90s, 2000's, 2010's), while sending 24 songs to the No.
1 spot of the charts. He has sold more than 120 million albums
worldwide, making him one of the Top Ten Best Selling Male Solo
Artists of All Time, according to the RIAA. Rogers has won many
awards for his music and charity work, including three GRAMMY
Awards, 19 American Music Awards, 11 People's Choice Awards, eight
Academy of Country Music Awards, six Country Music Association
Awards (including the CMA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013) and
the Artist of a Lifetime Award at the CMT Artists of the Year 2015
award show. Rogers has been the recipient of the Lifetime
Achievement Award from the International Entertainment Buyers
Association, the Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award from the Academy of
Country Music, and the Horatio Alger Award, given to those who have
distinguished themselves despite humble beginnings. Most
recently, on February 29, 2016, Rogers was honored with the 2016
Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award at the 8th
Annual TJ Martell Foundation Nashville Honors Gala.
Rogers earned a GRAMMY Award nomination and CMA Award nomination
in 2014, along with longtime friend and collaborator Dolly Parton,
for their new duet, "You Can't Make Old Friends," the title track
of Rogers' current acclaimed 32nd studio album released by Warner
Bros. in 2013. "You Can't Make Old Friends" was also included on
theAmerican Songwriter Top 50 Songs of 2014 list. The magical Kenny
& Dolly reunion was only the third time in the studio together
since their "Real Love" hit in 1985.
Rogers' music has always crossed boundaries - his 28 Billboard
Adult Contemporary Top 10's is sixth-best all-time, and fourth-best
among men, trailing only Elton John, Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley.
Rogers was the only male artist to notch Billboard AC Top 10s in the
‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s (only Barbra Streisand also managed that
feat in those decades). Rogers has sent the most country No. 1's to
the top spot on AC (five of his eight AC No. 1's were also country
No. 1's) and no core country artist has crossed over more titles to
AC.
He is still making monumental cross-over appearances at some of
the world's most prestigious festivals up to this day. In 2013,
Rogers gave his first performance at the largest outdoor arts
spectacle, the Glastonbury Festival, playing to over 130,000
enthusiastic fans, and at Morocco's world music, Festival Timitar,
with upwards of 100,000 people in attendance. In 2012, the country
legend was welcomed with open arms at popular U.S. festival
Bonnaroo, where Rogers performed his own set with surprise special
guest Lionel Richie and later joined Phish on-stage as a surprise
guest himself for a rousing version of "The Gambler."
Houston-born Rogers formed his first band while in high school in
1956-a doo-wop group called the Scholars-and has never quit making
music. He charted as a solo artist in the late '50s with "That Crazy
Feeling" and performed the song on American Bandstand, played
stand-up bass in the jazz group the Bobby Doyle Three (appearing on
their album released by Columbia Records), and in 1966 became a
member of the popular folk group, The New Christy Minstrels.
The spotlight started focusing on Rogers when his group, the
First Edition, scored their first hit, "Just Dropped In (To See What
Condition My Condition Was In)." Pop and country chart success
followed for the band with "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town"
(when the group officially became known as Kenny Rogers and the
First Edition). A string of hits, including "Reuben James,"
"Something's Burning" and "Tell It All Brother," and a TV variety
show called Rollin' continued to make the popular group relevant.
But it was Rogers' breakthrough, GRAMMY-winning performance of
"Lucille" as a solo artist in 1977 that propelled him to
superstardom, launching one of the most prosperous careers in the
history of music. Certified gold, "Lucille" was named Song of the
Year and Single of the Year by the Academy of Country Music and also
earned Single of the Year honors from the Country Music
Association.
"Daytime Friends," "Sweet Music Man," and "Love Or Something Like
It" continued Rogers' run of success. Then came his smash hit, "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 as Brady Hawkes. The movie spawned four follow-ups,
making it the longest running miniseries franchise on television.
The five Gambler mini-series have attracted over 100 million viewers
nationwide and launched a second career for Rogers as an actor on
television and movies, including another TV movie based on one of
his #1 hit songs, "Coward of the County." While drawing new
listeners and fans to country music 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.
In 1985, Kenny participated in the historical USA For Africa
recording of "We Are The World," the multi-celebrity performance
which raised millions of dollars for famine relief in Africa. A year
later, he co-chaired the audacious "Hands Across America"
fund-raiser for America's hungry.
Into the late '80s and '90s, in addition to worldwide tours,
recording new music and forming his own record label and management
company, Rogers established himself as a well-respected
photographer, publishing several books. He was even invited to the
White House to shoot a portrait of First Lady Hillary Clinton. He
also authored several short stories, and appeared off- Broadway in
his Christmas musical, The Toy Shoppe, which he subsequently
toured.
In 1999, Rogers returned to the charts in a big way on his own
record label, Dreamcatcher, with the hit and Number One video, "The
Greatest," and when the follow-up, "Buy Me a Rose," hit Number One
in 2000, Rogers, at age 61, became the oldest artist in chart
history to have a Number One solo record on the country chart,
proving his talent was just as vibrant and meaningful as it was when
he first started out.
Rogers has continued his amazing run into the 21st century with a
Country Music Hall of Fame induction, a CMA Lifetime Achievement
Award, two GRAMMY Award nominations ("Calling Me" with Don Henley
and "You Can't Make Old Friends" with Dolly Parton), a CMA Award
nomination ("You Can't Make Old Friends" with Dolly Parton), a
Gold-certified record (21 Number Ones), and three critically
acclaimed albums (Water and Bridges, The Love of God, and You Can't
Make Old Friends), considered by Rogers to be some of the very best
work of his entire career.
Never one to rest on his laurels, in this current decade, Rogers
became a New York Times best- selling author. His autobiography,
Luck or Something Like It – A Memoir, became a New York Times Best
Seller shortly after its 2012 release. A producer of several books
of photography, Rogers received an Honorary Masters of Photography
from the Professional Photographers of America in 2014.
Shortly following Rogers' 2013 induction into the Country Music
Hall of Fame, a career-spanning exhibit entitled Kenny Rogers:
Through The Years opened in 2014 at the Country Music Hall of Fame
and Museum in Nashville. The exhibit closed in June of 2015.
Rogers released his first Christmas studio album in 17 years -
Once Again It's Christmas - on September 25, 2015. The record
includes guest appearances by Alison Krauss, Jennifer Nettles, Home
Free, Jim Brickman, and Winfield's Locket. On the Cracker Barrel
exclusive edition of the recording, Rogers is joined by The Time
Jumpers (including Vince Gill) for one song.
Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, Rogers, who was
once voted the "Favorite Singer of All-Time" in a joint poll by
readers of both USA Today and People, still loves touring and
recording new music. Even so, Rogers came to a conclusion that
family is more important than touring at this stage in his career,
once he's played the final date of his last world tour. "I've been
so lucky to have enjoyed such a long career and to have such amazing
support from my fans and all who have helped me along the way, but
there comes a time when I need to focus on spending time with my
family. My life is about my wife and my 11-year-old twin boys right
now. There are a lot of things I want to do together with them to
create some special memories. I don't have a bucket list of my
own...I have a bucket list of things I want to do with
them."
Check out Kenny's website: www.kennyrogers.com
Thanks For The Music Kenny! |