'The Gambler' folds his cards: Kenny Rogers dead at 81
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Kenny Rogers, the silver-bearded country crooner with a knack for songs like "The Gambler" that crossed over to pop, has died at age 81.
Roger passed away late Friday at his home in Sandy Springs, Ga., where he was in the care of hospice, his family announced on Twitter.
"The Rogers family is sad to announce that Kenny Rogers passed away last night at 10:25PM at the age of 81," the tweet read. "Rogers passed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family."
Born into public housing in Houston, Rogers assembled a rags-to-riches story to become one of country music's first crossover stars, commanding the music stageans screen while cranking out duets with the likes of Dolly Parton, Sheena Easton, Dottie West and Kim Carnes.
Over his career, Rogers won three Grammys and six Country Music Awards and scored two dozen No. 1 hits.
His collaboration with pop star Lionel Ritchie on the song "Lady" -- Ritchie wrote it and Rogers sang it -- was just one of many successes during a career that dominated music in the 1970s and 1980s.
His 1978 hit "The Gambler" swept across both country and pop charts and became the fodder for a movie. His other hits included "Islands in the Stream," "Lucille," and "You Decorated My Life."
Rogers retired from entertainment in 2017.
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And faded off to sleep
And somewhere in the darkness
The gambler - he broke even
And in his final words I found
An ace that I could keep....
He is a legend! "Lady" was one of my favorite songs by him, followed closely by "The Gambler". I also Loved "Coward of the County", "Lucille", "You are so Beautiful", and who can forget "You Decorated My Life" and "Islands In The Stream"...
He was a legend. I never realized how much older he was than the rest of us.
He was only 25 years older than me.
My Mom loved Kenny Rogers especially with Dolly Parton.
I can't say I blame her. I think he had a certain appeal to women.
R.I.P. Kenny !
You "Decorated MY life" for sure !
In the mid 1980's I saw Kenny and Dolly in concert in LA. Wonderful show.
Really sad news to wake up to. Great singer and a truly nice person.
Your music will always be remembered. RIP to a great entertainer.
He was one of the greats, from when country music sounded like country. And the friendship between him and Dolly Parton brought a tear to my eye.
Saw them in a concert in Savannah - talk about mesmerizing the crowd - wow.
It bugs me that one of our local country stations is pretending to pay tribute to him by playing a few bars from a few of his songs (not a single one in its entirety), then going back to playing Luke Bryan
This is dedicated to Kenny - thank you