п»ї 18: I Prefer The Moonlight, I Prefer The Moonlight (1987) The two had worked together back in the early 60s when they were just starting out, and their vocal chemistry allowed Rogers to stretch out and show off his skills for anyone who might have doubted his abilities as a powerhouse singer. ItвЂ™s a convincing, relatively unadorned ballad that features RogersвЂ™ reunion with Kim Carnes, who co-wrote all the songs on Gideon. RogersвЂ™ smoky voice sounds fully folksy here, not cabaret вЂ“ a rebuke of those who might question his country bona fides.ДЎ9: DonвЂ™t Fall In Love With A Dreamer, Gideon (1980)ДЄ concept album about a Texas cowboy should have been a career-crystallizing moment for The Gambler вЂ“ though it wasnвЂ™t quite that, Gideon did produce this, Kenny RogersвЂ™ fifth top-five single on the Hot 100. ItвЂ™s warm and familiar without sounding at all redundant, and has polished production thatвЂ™s proven remarkably trend-resistant.

One of the most straight-forwardly country songs on this list, вЂњIf You Want To Find LoveвЂќ proves Kenny RogersвЂ™ Nashville mettle: a nostalgic, mandolin-adorned story song that actually counsels against cheating. 20: If You Want To Find Love, Back Home Again (1991) Listen to Kenny RogersвЂ™ best songs on Apple Music or Spotify. However he preferred to describe it, his ability to sell just about any kind of pop song вЂ“ to make you not just like it, but feel it вЂ“ was nearly unmatched. Rogers perpetually played down his abilities as a singer, insisting that he wasnвЂ™t a technician but a stylist. вЂњWhen I look at a song, I look at it as a hit, and not as a particular kind of music.вЂќ Once you know that, the wide-ranging glut of very successful songs Rogers produced, and the millions of copies they sold, makes even more sense. вЂњIвЂ™ve always been country, but not strictly,вЂќ Rogers said in 1978. вЂњThe GamblerвЂќ and вЂњLadyвЂќ were released within two years of each other, but Rogers never saw his aesthetic omnivorousness as a liability. His journey through commercial jazz with the New Christy Minstrels and quasi-hippiedom with the folk/rock/pop of the First Edition is wild in the context of his later hits, until you think about how diverse those hits are. A half-century later, he was best known as either The Gambler, or a crowd-pleasing pop singer-turned-fried chicken magnate. He started his career playing bass in jazz and R&B bands in his native Houston his first single, 1958вЂ™s вЂњThat Crazy Feeling,вЂќ was a convincing enough doo-wop performance to earn young Kenneth an appearance on American Bandstand. Yes, heвЂ™s a Country Music Hall of Famer yes, one of his best-known and most enduring songs is a trippy ode to LSD. Over the more than 60 years that Kenny Rogers wrote songs, his trajectory defied any straightforward narrative.

Kenny rogers through the years youtube