Vocalist\u00a0Kenny Rogers, who dominated the pop and country charts in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of sleekly tailored hits and won three Grammys, has died. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was 81. Rogers \u201cpassed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family,\u201d a representative for the singer said in a statement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the\u00a0 national COVID-19 emergency, the family is planning a small private service at this time with a public memorial planned for a later date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201chealth challenges.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to take forever to retire,\u201d Rogers said his April 2018 statement. \u201cI\u2019ve thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to say farewell to the fans over the course of the past two years on \u2018The Gambler\u2019s Last Deal\u2019 tour. I could never properly thank them for the encouragement and support they\u2019ve given me throughout my career and the happiness I\u2019ve experienced as a result of that,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\u00a0special, \u201cBiography:\u00a0Kenny Rogers,\u201d had been announced by A&E earlier this month, set to air April 13. The special is said to be largely built around footage from the all-star salute Rogers received in Nashville on Oct. 25, 2017, just a couple of months before his final concert appearances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the guests who joined him for that sentimental sendoff at the Bridgestone Arena were\u00a0Dolly Parton,\u00a0Lionel Richie, Don Henley, Kris Kristofferson,\u00a0Alison Krauss, Chris Stapleton, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, the Flaming Lips and the Judds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers\u2019 signature song \u201cThe Gambler\u201d was added to the National Registry in 1978. It was the most recent of a lifetime of honors bestowed on the singer, which included induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, three Grammys and six CMA Awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rogers was one of the progenitors of country-pop crossover at the superstar level. \u201cI came into country music not trying to change country music but trying to survive,\u201d he said in a 2016 interview with\u00a0CMT.com. \u201cAnd so I did songs that were not country but were more pop. Nowadays they\u2019re not doing country songs at all. What they\u2019re doing is creating their own genre of country music. But I told somebody the other day, country music is what country people will buy. If the country audience doesn\u2019t buy it, they\u2019ll kick it out. And if they do, then it becomes country music. It\u2019s just era of country music we\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the Oct. 25, 2017 tribute concert in Nashville, Rogers joined in jocular exchanges with some of the homage-payers, notably Parton, who quipped, \u201cI want to see what condition your condition\u2019s really in.\u201d They reprised their recorded duets of \u201cYou Can\u2019t Make Old Friends\u201d and \u201cIslands In the Stream,\u201d and Parton additionally sang him her own signature song, \u201cI Will Always Love You.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Footage of the 2017 concert was filmed by Blackbird Productions but went unseen until it was set for inclusion in the A&E \u201cBiography\u201d special airing in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hope my fans understand that I\u2019m a father first and a singer second,\u201d Rogers said about his planned retirement from touring, in a 2016 interview with CMT.com, mentioning at that time that he had 11-year-old twin boys with his wife, Wanda Miller.. \u201cAs it turns out, I\u2019m missing some very great parts of my boys\u2019 lives. I know as well as anybody else how that time gets away from you. And I don\u2019t want to miss it. I just worry about how much longer I\u2019m going to be here, and I want to have time to spend with them. It\u2019s pretty simple.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Married five times, Rogers is survived by his last wife Wanda and five children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vocalist\u00a0Kenny Rogers, who dominated the pop and country charts in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of sleekly tailored hits and won three Grammys, has died. He was 81. Rogers \u201cpassed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family,\u201d a representative for the singer said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8864,"featured_media":14619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-14618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n