“Coward of the country” American Country Music legend Kenneth Ray Rogers a.k.a Kenny Rogers has passed on, at the age of 81.
Kenny Rogers, the American multiple Grammy winning country musician has passed away at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia USA. He was aged 81. His family announced Rogers death noting that he died of natural causes and by the time of his death, he was under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family.
“The Rogers family is sad to announce that Kenny Rogers passed away last night at 10:25 p.m. at the age of 81. Rogers passed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family,” the family announced his death online.
Rogers dominated the Pop and Country charts in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of sleekly tailored hits and won three Grammys and CMA Award nomination in 2014, along with longtime friend and collaborator Dolly Parton, for their new duet, “You Can’t Make Old.”
Rogers was known for songs like; Don’t fall in love with a dreamer, Coward of the country, Lucille, Lady, Through the years, The Gambler, Daytime friends and Love lifted me.
Country historian Bill C. Malone told variety Magazine that Rogers’ ingratiating style was the chief source of his immense success.
“Rogers is a consummate story-teller, with an intimate and compelling style that almost demands the listener’s concentration. When his husky tenor voice slips down into a raspy, gravelly register, as it sometimes does, Rogers pulls the listener even further into his confidence.”
However, Due to the national COVID-19 emergency, the family is planning a small private service at this time with a public memorial planned for a later date.
Biograpghy
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.
Rogers was born the fourth of eight children on August 21, 1938, in Houston, Texas. His parents were Lucille Lois (née Hester; 1910–1991), a nurse’s assistant, and Edward Floyd Rogers (1904–1975), a carpenter. Rogers was said to be of Irish and Native American ancestry. Rogers attended Wharton Elementary School.
Born and raised in Houston, he was the fourth of eight children in a poor family. He took to the guitar as an adolescent, and would sometimes perform with another aspiring local musician and future star, Mickey Gilley.
Rogers was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Country Music Association the same year.
His early professional career was stylistically eclectic. While in high school, he formed a rockabilly group, the Scholars, who recorded for Carlton Records, a local label. After a brief stint at the University of Houston, he played bass with the jazz groups of Bobby Doyle and Kirby Stone.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1966, he joined the folk-pop unit the New Christy Minstrels, a group that also numbered such performers as Carnes, the Byrds’ Gene Clark, “Eve of Destruction” vocalist Barry McGuire and the Lovin’ Spoonful’s Jerry Yester among its members at one time or another.
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.
Rogers had announced a farewell tour in 2015 and was able to keep it going through December 2017. In April 2018, shortly before he was to spend a few months finishing out the tour after a break, he announced that he was having to call off the remaining dates (including a planned appearance at the Stagecoach Festival in California).
“Due to unspecified “health challenges.” “I didn’t want to take forever to retire,” Rogers said his April 2018 statement. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to say farewell to the fans over the course of the past two years on ‘The Gambler’s Last Deal’ tour. I could never properly thank them for the encouragement and support they’ve given me throughout my career and the happiness I’ve experienced as a result of that.”
Rogers is survived with five children
He also had twin boys, Justin and Jordan, with his fifth wife Wanda in 2004 who always accompanied him on many tours while they were growing up, and he had had them sing on stage.
