Country Music Legend Kenny Rogers Dead at 81
Country Music Legend Dead, Genre Forever Changed
Volume 90%
By Jack Davis
Published March 21, 2020 at 8:18am
The Gambler just broke even.
Country music legend Kenny Rogers died Friday night at home at age 81, according to a statement issued on Twitter by his family.
“The Rogers family is sad to announce that Kenny Rogers passed away last night at 10:25PM at the age of 81,” the statement said.
“Rogers passed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family.
twitter.com/_KennyRogers/status/1241244740957413376
Rogers took his first step on the road to becoming an American musical legend in 1977 with the hit song “Lucille.”
He followed that up in 1978 with “The Gambler,” a song that became an integral part of his performing persona and which included lines that became part of the fabric of America: “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em; Know when to fold ’em; Know when to walk away; And know when to run.”
The song about the encounter between a drifter and a gambler also included the poignant line: “The best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.”
The song later described the death of the gambler this way: “Somewhere in the darkness; The gambler he broke even.”
Rogers often collaborated with country icon Dolly Parton, making “Islands in the Stream” one of country music’s most famous duets.
Rogers recalled the making of the song in a 2017 interview with NBC’s “Today.”
“The story is the producer and the writer on the song was one of the Bee Gees, Barry Gibb,” Rogers said.
“And we had been singing this song in my studio in L.A. for four days. And I finally said, ‘Barry, I don’t even like this song anymore.’ And he said, ‘We need Dolly Parton.”’
Parton was actually close by.
“I said, ‘Well, why not, you know?”’ Rogers said.
“And Ken Kragen, my manager said, ‘I saw her downstairs.’ I said, ‘Well, go get her.’ And Dolly, in her inimitable fashion, marched into the room and the song was never the same.”
Parton posted her reaction to the death of her collaborator and friend on Twitter: