The Kenny Rogers Story
Encyclopedia
Overview
As one of the many collections issued by country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, The Kenny Rogers Story: 20 Golden Hits was issued in the United Kingdom in 1985. The album, never released in the U.S., collects most of Rogers' UK Top 40 pop hits as well as various other singles that, while they never made it to high positions in the mainstream charts there, were popular among fans of both Country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
and Easy Listening
Easy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
/ Middle of the road genres. It is similar to the 1983 issued 20 Greatest Hits from the United States Of America.
For this album, Rogers sang solo several songs from his days with The First Edition
The First Edition
The First Edition was a country music/rock band. Its stalwart members being Kenny Rogers , Mickey Jones and Terry Williams...
in the 1960s and early 1970s, including the #1 hit "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" and the top 10 success "Something's Burning", as well as "Reuben James" (while this was not a pop hit in Britain, it was nevertheless well known, receiving regular airplay). Elsewhere the album includes tracks from his solo days with United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
and Liberty Records
Liberty Records
Liberty Records was a United States-based record label. It was started by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revivals.-1950s:...
(see below for song list). Some fans have been bemused as to why his 1983 hit single with Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, Islands In The Stream, is "missing" on this collection. However, this track was recorded with RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
and therefore it did not make the United Artists/Liberty collection.
In addition to being issued on the popular formats of Vinyl, Cassette and Compact Disc, The Kenny Rogers Story was also issued on the short lived Digital Compact Cassette
Digital Compact Cassette
Digital Compact Cassette was a magnetic tape sound recording format introduced by Philips and Matsushita in late 1992 and pitched as a successor to the standard analog cassette. It was also a direct competitor to Sony's MiniDisc but neither format toppled the then ubiquitous analog cassette...
. The album was eventually deleted in the mid-1990s following the release of the similar themed collection Daytime Friends - The Very Best Of Kenny Rogers
Daytime Friends - The Very Best of Kenny Rogers
Daytime Friends - The Very Best of Kenny Rogers is a 1993 compilation album by country superstar Kenny Rogers.- Overview :The album was released in the United Kingdom...
.
Chart performance
The Kenny Rogers Story was a huge success reaching #1 in the UK country albums chart and #4 on the pop chart http://www.everyhit.com/. It remained one of the top selling country collections for over four years, out selling all his previous albums, and was the biggest selling country album of 1985 in the UK. In 1989, it still ranked #2 on the UK chart.Album Art
In what seems a tradition with U.K. Rogers releases, the album art for this album matches the 1985 album Love Is What We Make ItLove Is What We Make It
Love Is What We Make It is the title of a 1985 album by Kenny Rogers, released by Liberty Records . The album is a collection of songs Rogers recorded between 1974 and 1983 that were rejected for his studio albums of that time. This collection was issued after he signed to RCA...
.
Track listing
- "LucilleLucille (Kenny Rogers song)"Lucille" is the title of a ballad written by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, and recorded by Kenny Rogers. It was released in January 1977 as the second and final single from the album Kenny Rogers. The song is about a man in a bar that meets a woman who has left her husband...
"
#1 U.K, originally issued on the 1977 album Kenny RogersKenny Rogers (1977 album)Kenny Rogers is the title of Kenny Rogers' second solo album for United Artists Records, released worldwide in 1977. The album marked his first major solo success following the minor success of Love Lifted Me in 1976....
) - "LadyLady (Kenny Rogers song)"Lady" is the title of a song written by Lionel Richie and recorded by American country artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in September 1980 as the only single from the album, Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits....
"
(#12 U.K, originally issued on the 1980 album Greatest Hits - in the U.K., titled Lady) - "The Long Arm of the Law"
(originally issued on the 1980 album Greatest Hits - in the U.K., titled Lady) - "You Decorated My LifeYou Decorated My Life"You Decorated My Life" is the title of a song written by Debbie Hupp and Bob Morrison, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in September 1979 as the lead single from his album Kenny. It was a number-one hit on the Billboard Country Singles chart and peaked at...
"
(originally issued on the 1979 album KennyKenny (album)Kenny is the seventh studio album by Kenny Rogers, released in 1979. It includes the singles "Coward of the County" and "You Decorated My Life.""Tulsa Turnaround" is a reworking of an earlier song Rogers recorded with The First Edition....
) - "Sweet Music ManSweet Music Man"Sweet Music Man" is the title of a song written and recorded by American singer Kenny Rogers. It appears on his 1977 album Daytime Friends, from which it was released as the final single....
"
(originally issued on the 1977 album Daytime FriendsDaytime FriendsDaytime Friends is the title of Kenny Rogers' third solo album for United Artists Records, released worldwide in 1977. It was his second major success following the break-up of The First Edition in 1976 Daytime Friends is the title of Kenny Rogers' third solo album for United Artists Records,...
) - "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To TownRuby, Don't Take Your Love To Town"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" is a song written by Mel Tillis. The song was made famous by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition in 1969. "Ruby" was originally recorded in 1967 by Johnny Darrell, who scored a number nine country hit with it that year....
"
(a 1977 re-recording of a First Edition hit from 1969) - "Love or Something Like ItLove Or Something Like It (song)"Love or Something Like It" is the title of a 1978 hit single performed by Kenny Rogers. The song was written by Rogers and Steven Glassmeyer and would be Kenny Rogers' third number one on the country chart...
"
(originally issued on the 1978 album Love Or Something Like ItLove Or Something Like ItLove or Something Like It is the fifth solo album by country music superstar Kenny Rogers, released in 1978. It was Rogers' fourth #1 hit album.-Overview:The album's title cut also topped the charts...
) - "Through The YearsThrough the Years"Through the Years" is the title of a song written by Steve Dorff and New York native Marty Panzer, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers....
"
(originally issued on the 1981 album Share Your LoveShare Your LoveShare Your Love is an album by country singer Kenny Rogers and his first with Liberty Records besides his Greatest Hits album. This album has sold 9 million copies world-wide.- Overview :...
) - "You Are So BeautifulYou Are So Beautiful"You Are So Beautiful" is a song written by Billy Preston and Bruce Fisher and Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys. It was first recorded by Preston and made popular in a version by Joe Cocker....
"
(originally issued on the 1983 album We've Got TonightWe've Got Tonight (Kenny Rogers album)We've Got Tonight is the eleventh solo studio album by Kenny Rogers, released in 1983, and his last with Liberty Records before moving to RCA Records.-Overview:...
) - "Don't Fall in Love with a DreamerDon't Fall in Love with a Dreamer"Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" is the title of a song written by David Ellingson and Kim Carnes and recorded by Kenny Rogers and Carnes as a duet. It was released in March 1980 as the first single from Rogers' album Gideon. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and #1...
" (with Kim CarnesKim CarnesKim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....
)
(originally issued on the 1980 album GideonGideon (album)Gideon is the eighth solo studio album by Kenny Rogers, issued by United Artists Records in 1980. It reached #1 on the country charts and the top 20 of the pop charts...
) - "The GamblerThe Gambler (song)"The Gambler" is the title of a song written by Don Schlitz and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in November 1978 as the title track from his album The Gambler which won him the Grammy award for best male country vocal performance in 1980. Bobby Bare had...
"
(originally issued on the 1978 album The GamblerThe Gambler (album)The Gambler is the sixth studio album by Kenny Rogers', released by United Artists in 1978. One of his most popular, it has established Rogers' status as one of the most successful artists of the 1970s and 1980s...
) - "Daytime FriendsDaytime Friends (song)"Daytime Friends" is the title of a song written by Ben Peters and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers. It was released in August 1977 as the lead single from the album of the same name, 1977 album and was written by Ben Peters. "Daytime Friends" was Kenny Rogers' second number...
"
(#39 U.K, originally issued on the 1977 album Daytime Friends) - "We've Got Tonight" (with Sheena EastonSheena EastonSheena Easton is a Scottish recording artist. Easton became famous for being the focus of an episode in the British television programme The Big Time, which recorded her attempts to gain a record contract and her eventual signing with EMI Records.Easton rose to fame in the early 1980s with the pop...
)
(#28 U.K, originally issued on the 1983 album We've Got Tonight) - "Love Lifted Me"
(originally issued on the 1976 album Love Lifted MeLove Lifted MeLove Lifted Me is the title of Kenny Rogers' first solo album for United Artists Records, released in 1976. This is Rogers' first solo effort following the break-up of The First Edition earlier that year....
) - "Coward Of The County"
(#1 U.K, originally issued on the 1979 album Kenny) - "Reuben JamesReuben JamesReuben James was a Boatswain's Mate of the United States Navy, famous for his heroism in the Barbary Wars.-Career:...
"
(a 1977 re-recording of a First Edition single) - "DesperadoDesperado (song)"Desperado" is a soft rock song by the Eagles, an American rock band, written by group members Glenn Frey and Don Henley. It first appeared on the 1973 album Desperado, and has later appeared on numerous compilation albums although it was not a single....
"
(originally issued on the 1977 album Daytime Friends) - "She Believes In Me"
(#42 U.K, originally issued on the 1978 album The Gambler) - "Something's BurningSomething's BurningSomething's Burning is the fifth album by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, released in 1970.-Singles:Only one single was issued from the album, the title song "Something's Burning" with "Momma's Waiting" on the flip side...
"
(a 1977 re recording of a 1970 First Edition hit) - "Blaze Of GloryBlaze of Glory (song)"Blaze of Glory " is a song by Jon Bon Jovi which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Mainstream rock chart in 1990, his only chart-topper away from his band Bon Jovi. The song also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart...
"
(originally issued on the 1981 album Share Your Love)