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Kenny Rogers dies at 81


Sad coincidence: I had been watching some YouTube videos to avoid more hours of cable news, and my progression from Buck Owens and Dwight Yoacam and Jorge Jones to Dolly Parton ended with Dolly and Kenny's duo of "Islands in the Stream". I finished it and went to the headlines only to discover Kenny had passed just a while before.

"You've got to know when to hold them..."

Farewell, Kenny. We loved you and your music.
 
Just when we DON'T need more bad news during this awful time. Heartbreaking.
Up in the heavens, he's singing The Gambler. RIP Kenny. What a loss.
 
Sad to hear about his death, actually i didn't hear about it until I hard it in the news broadcast when it was reported during the 7 AM news, and I have already taken the time to post this on my Facebook page, but in loving memory of him, here is The Gambler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn4...cpbwbOB7NErk6k4HEXl6_qBimekTUaHE6U-7KwqNa4jgU . This video would be his perforce on Live by Request. So click the link and enjoy, and try to think when was the last time, he have seen an entire audience clap and sing along at the same time.
 
Sad coincidence: I had been watching some YouTube videos to avoid more hours of cable news, and my progression from Buck Owens and Dwight Yoacam and Jorge Jones to Dolly Parton ended with Dolly and Kenny's duo of "Islands in the Stream". I finished it and went to the headlines only to discover Kenny had passed just a while before.

"You've got to know when to hold them..."

Farewell, Kenny. We loved you and your music.


That is an interesting coincidence, it does seem that you are a hughe fan of country music me not as much, and even interesting that you had just finished watching Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers singing Islands in the Stream, when you had seen the news that he had died.
 
While I'm generally not a fan of country music, I enjoyed most all this
music. He had the ability to cross musical genres like few others with
his many, many hits.
 
Kenny Rogers performed many songs that were deeply meaningful.

Reuben James
Ruby, Don't Take your Love to Town
Coward of the County

And one that was a stiff on the charts but was on the playlist at one radio gig I had: "The Greatest", about a kid learning the game of baseball.

Edit to add: I didn't realize that Rogers did the original release of "Ol' Red" in the mid 90s, which Blake Shelton made famous many years later.
 
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He didn't even seem old.

I've liked his music for a long time. Ironically, "The Gambler" was not as big a hit as "Lucille", and he wasn't well known when that song was popular.
 
I got to meet him several times "through the years," and he was always very nice. Always looked you in the eye, spoke to you as if you were the only person in the room, and gave great interviews. He was always very grateful for his success, and never bitter when his time on radio ended. When talking about the 90s, he'd say "They were doing this hot, new country thing at the time, and I was neither hot nor new, so I realized I wasn't going to get played." However, he was convinced that if he came up with the right song, and the right circumstances, that country radio would play him. So he got a song called "Buy Me a Rose," asked Alison Krauss & Billy Dean to sing it with him, released it on his own record label, and the song went to #1. Ten years later, he got a song called "The Greatest," and managed to make it a Top 30 song. His last radio song was a duet with Dolly Parton called "You Can't Make Old Friends." Very poignant song on this day.
 
He didn't even seem old.

I've liked his music for a long time. Ironically, "The Gambler" was not as big a hit as "Lucille", and he wasn't well known when that song was popular.


He did look pretty good for his age, but yeah 81 is older then some other celebrities have lived to, even ones that have died in either their 60's or 70's.
 
There was one of his restaurants in the town where I live - Southington, Connecticut. It wasn't there very long. The building was torn down and a branch of People's United Bank was built on the property in 2001 and operated there until January 2019.

There was one in Wallingford, too. It lasted a couple of years, IIRC. The building was remodeled and turned into an orthodontist's office for many years. It now sits vacant, at the entrance to a shopping plaza that is also in decline, with a Kohl's, an Aldi, and a whole lot of empty storefronts.
 
There was one of his restaurants in the town where I live - Southington, Connecticut. It wasn't there very long. The building was torn down and a branch of People's United Bank was built on the property in 2001 and operated there until January 2019.
"Fresh Off the Boat" on ABC had one of his restaurants. I didn't watch the episodes in order but apparently Louis was going through some financial trouble, or maybe he wanted to invest in the restaurant. His face was never shown but we could see him from the back. Of course, he was supposed to be 20 years younger.
 
There was also an episode of Seinfeld where a location opened across from Jerry and Kramer's apartments and they couldn't sleep because of the lights and Kramer got addicted to the chicken.
 
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