If you knew little about Kenny Rogers apart from him being a country singer, doing some acting on the side, having a Chicken Roasters franchise and a liking for a bit of phone sex then prepared to be dazzled.
Despite being a country singer from Houston, Texas born into poverty, Rogers started out in a Jazz group, before going into Folk and then into Psychedelia in the late 1960s.
It was only in mid 1970s when he was well into his 30s that he ventured into Country music and racked up hits with Lucille, The Gambler, Coward of the County. However because of his varied musical heritage he mixed country with other genres and worked with Lionel Richie and the Bee Gees and had a hit duet with Dolly Parton with Islands in the stream.
This programme examines his career and talks to Kenny, his manager and collaborators. Kenny has had a turbulent private life with several divorces and Country music has made him very wealthy but he seems like a nice guy with interests outside of music especially when the chart hits dried up in the 1990s. Although guarded about his political views, unlike a lot of country singers he tends to lean towards the Democrats given his donation record and he did a lot of work in raising funds for charitable endeavours in the 1980s.
Despite being a country singer from Houston, Texas born into poverty, Rogers started out in a Jazz group, before going into Folk and then into Psychedelia in the late 1960s.
It was only in mid 1970s when he was well into his 30s that he ventured into Country music and racked up hits with Lucille, The Gambler, Coward of the County. However because of his varied musical heritage he mixed country with other genres and worked with Lionel Richie and the Bee Gees and had a hit duet with Dolly Parton with Islands in the stream.
This programme examines his career and talks to Kenny, his manager and collaborators. Kenny has had a turbulent private life with several divorces and Country music has made him very wealthy but he seems like a nice guy with interests outside of music especially when the chart hits dried up in the 1990s. Although guarded about his political views, unlike a lot of country singers he tends to lean towards the Democrats given his donation record and he did a lot of work in raising funds for charitable endeavours in the 1980s.
