Kenny Rogers: The First Fifty Years-

Country music legend Kenny Rogers will be returning to television in a special that Rogers called “the event of a lifetime”. Billed as Kenny Rogers: The First Fifty Years, the special will include many of Rogers’ closest friends including Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Alison Krauss, Wynonna, the Oak Ridge Boys and many more. The announcement was made Thursday, February 4, prior to Rogers’ concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center by President and CEO Jim Mazza, of Dreamcatcher Artist Management. Also representing part of the Dreamcatcher Management team was Senior V. P. of Television and Marketing Kelly Junkermann. Sharing in the announcement was Locomotive Entertainment Group President Gabriel Gornell, and Senior V.P. of Foxwoods Marketing Joseph Jimenez.

The taping will take place at the MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods in southeastern Connecticut, and tickets will be available beginning February 11.

Junkermann declared the event to be “a celebration of a guy that’s had a career that has spanned jazz, folk, rock, and at the heart of it all, country!”

Rogers is one of only a very few artists to sell over 125 million albums and has charted a hit single in each of the last six decades. He started in 50 +year career with folk group, The New Christy Minstrels in 1966, but in 1967, he and several other members of the band, left and formed The First Edition. They recorded their first pop-psychedelic single “Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In.” in 1968. Rogers left the group in 1974, but not before recording some of the better known hits, “ Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town, “ Rueben James”, and “Something’s Burning”.

In 1976, Rogers enjoyed a minor pop hit, “Love Lifted Me”, but in 1978 Rogers’ first breakthrough country hit “Lucille”: took him all the way to #1 on the country charts, the Country Music Association’s “Single of the Year” Award and a huge crossover into the world of pop.

His solo career has been a solid mix of top ten singles on both sides of the charts. His cover of Lionel Richie’s “Lady” spent six weeks at the top of the pop charts, while the country charts boasted of “Love or Something Like It,” “You Decorated My Life and “She Believes in Me”,. “The Gambler” and “Coward of the County” (the latter two hits also made it into the world of TV movies.)

Rogers says his biggest thrill comes from duets and he has performed with many pop and country singers alike. Some of his duet partners include Sheen Easton (“We’ve Got Tonight”), Kim Carnes (“Don’t Fall in Love With a Dreamer”), Ronnie Milsap (“Make No Mistake, She’s Mine”) and Dolly Parton (“Islands in the Stream”). Rogers also had a series of top ten hits with the late Dottie West which included “Every Time Two Fools Collide”, “All I Ever Need is You” and “What Are We Doing in Love?”. An audience favorite is his duet with West and later Dolly Parton is “I Feel Sorry for Anyone Who Isn’t Me Tonight”. A Christmas favorite includes his duet with Wynonna “Mary, Did You Know?”

Rogers has always been very forward thinking and describes the concept behind this project as, “To acknowledge the past but represent the present and go forward.” In true Rogers’ humor, he added “this first fifty years TV show is going to be amazing but the next one will be a bitch.”and with the friends that will be joining him onstage, you can bet he will be as excited as the audience. This is one “event of a lifetime” you will not want to miss!

Tickets for the star-studded TV special will go on sale Thursday, February 11 at 9:00 am (online) at mgmatfoxwoods.com or by calling MGM Grand at Foxwoods Box Office at 1-866-646-0609, or purchased (in person) at the MGM Grand Box Office. Tickets will also be available by calling or visiting Ticketmaster online.

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