Kenny Rogers

"The Gambler" is not Kenny Rogers's.

It was written by Don Schlitz in August 1976, on his own, at twenty-three, and he spent two years offering it around Nashville without anyone wanting it.

Schlitz died on 16 April 2026, five months ago, in a Nashville hospital, at seventy-three. He had written more than twenty country number ones and he was in the genre's Hall of Fame.

It is worth starting there, because an entire philosophy of life has been built out of that song, and the philosophy is his.

Four versions before the one that stuck

The song went around for a while.

It was recorded first by Bobby Bare, at Shel Silverstein's insistence, and it never came out as a single. Then Johnny Cash included it on an album in 1978. And Schlitz himself put out his version, which got no higher than number sixty-five.

Kenny Rogers released it in November 1978 and kept it forever. Number one on the country chart, sixteen on the general one.

Schlitz won the Grammy for best country song of 1979 with it. Rogers won the one for best male country vocal performance of 1980.

It is the textbook case: the version that buries every previous one, including the author's.

The other two stories, and who signed them

Rogers's talent was performing other people's stories as if they had happened to him. But the stories had an author.

"Lucille" was written by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum. It was number one on the country chart, fifth on the general one and number one in the United Kingdom in June 1977.

And the synopsis is worth correcting, because it is usually told backwards. The narrator meets Lucille in a bar in Toledo; the one who turns up and confronts her, in front of everyone, is her husband, with the line about the four hungry children and the crop in the field. The one left behind in the story is the husband, not the protagonist, and the song ends with the narrator unable to go through with the night.

"Coward of the County" is by Roger Bowling and Billy Ed Wheeler. Number one on the country chart, third on the general one and number one in the United Kingdom in February 1980.

And it is not the story of a pacifist who simply snaps. What makes Tommy snap is a gang rape: the three Gatlin brothers assault his girlfriend. The 1981 television film deals with it head-on. It can be written about carefully, but it cannot be erased, because without it the song means nothing.

"The Gambler" also produced five television films between 1980 and 1994, all of them set in the Old West.

He did not start in country

The best fact in his biography is the one almost nobody tells: Kenny Rogers did not come from country.

He joined The New Christy Minstrels in 1966 and in 1967 he co-founded The First Edition. With them he recorded "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", a psychedelic single that reached number five on the Hot 100 in 1968, and that decades later a film would put back into circulation.

So the bearded patriarch of country started out singing psychedelic rock in the late sixties.

The group broke up in the mid-seventies, and only then did the career everyone remembers begin.

His two biggest pop hits are other people's too

"Lady", his number one on the Hot 100 in 1980, was written and produced by Lionel Richie.

And "Islands in the Stream", the duet with Dolly Parton, was written by the Bee Gees, but not for him: they had composed it for Diana Ross, in a rhythm and blues vein, and they rewrote it when Rogers came along. Barry Gibb produced it, and it was number one on the general chart as well as the country one.

None of this diminishes him. It is exactly the description of a performer: someone whose trade is to recognise a good song and know what to do with it.

That night in 1985

On "We Are the World", Rogers was not just another voice in the choir: he was one of the soloists, and he had to sing immediately after Paul Simon.

He was also among the first to be called in, because his manager, Ken Kragen, was also Lionel Richie's and one of the organisers of the night.

The song was written by Michael Jackson and Richie, and produced by Quincy Jones. Around him, in that studio, were Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper and Ray Charles.

Being given a verse of his own in there says how big he was.

The chicken

And a footnote that sums him up: in 1991 he founded a roast chicken chain together with John Y. Brown Jr., who had been chief executive of another, rather more famous chain.

It closed in the United States and it is still running in Asia. The man who sang about knowing when to walk away did better in the chicken business outside his own country.

What to remember

Kenny Rogers is proof that performing is a trade of its own, and that it is worth saying who wrote what you sing.

Put on "The Gambler", "Lucille" or "Islands in the Stream" and you will hear someone who told a three-minute story better than almost anyone, with a voice that sounded like an older friend.

He sold more than a hundred million records, not hundreds of millions: the figure grows on its own every time it gets copied and it is not needed at all.

He announced his retirement in 2015 and played his last concert on 25 October 2017 in Nashville, with Dolly Parton among the guests. He died on 20 March 2020, at eighty-one.

Remember him like this: he knew when to leave the table, as his song said. The song that was Don Schlitz's, and Schlitz died this year.

---

This text mentions sexual violence. If you or someone you know has been through something like this, you are not alone and help is available. In Chile, the SernamEG Gender Violence Helpline is 1455, from 08:00 to 00:00 every day, with a silent WhatsApp service at +56 9 9700 7000. For emergencies during the night there are Carabineros' 149, plus 133 and 134. And in the case of a recent sexual assault you can go directly to any emergency service, without needing to have filed a report: care is guaranteed within the first 72 hours. Seeking support is an act of strength.

Sources

Kenny Rogers, born in Houston, Texas, on 21 August 1938 and died in Sandy Springs, Georgia, on 20 March 2020, aged 81. American singer, songwriter and actor. His sales are estimated at more than a hundred million records worldwide. "The Gambler" was written in August 1976 by Don Schlitz, then 23, who spent two years offering it around Nashville; it had previously been recorded by Bobby Bare, at Shel Silverstein's suggestion, and by Johnny Cash on his album "Gone Girl" (1978), and Schlitz's own version got no higher than number 65. Rogers released it in November 1978 and it reached number one on the country chart and number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100; Schlitz received the Grammy for best country song of 1979 and Rogers the one for best male country vocal performance of 1980. Don Schlitz, author of more than twenty country number ones and a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died on 16 April 2026 in Nashville, aged 73. "Lucille", written by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, was number one country, number five on the Hot 100 and number one in the United Kingdom in June 1977; the narrator meets Lucille in a bar in Toledo and it is her husband who bursts in to reproach her for leaving. "Coward of the County", by Roger Bowling and Billy Ed Wheeler, was number one country, number three on the Hot 100 and number one in the United Kingdom in February 1980; the trigger of the story is the gang sexual assault suffered by the protagonist's girlfriend, an episode dealt with explicitly in the 1981 television film. "The Gambler" gave rise to five television films between 1980 and 1994. Before his country career, Rogers was part of The New Christy Minstrels from 1966 and in 1967 co-founded The First Edition, with which he recorded the psychedelic single "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", number five on the Hot 100 in 1968, and "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" (1969); the group broke up in the mid-seventies. "Lady" (1980), number one on the Hot 100, was written and produced by Lionel Richie. "Islands in the Stream" (1983), a duet with Dolly Parton, was composed by the Bee Gees originally for Diana Ross in a rhythm and blues vein and rewritten for Rogers, with production by Barry Gibb; it was number one on the Hot 100. In 1985 he took part as one of the solo voices on "We Are the World", performing his verse immediately after Paul Simon; he was among the first artists called in, since his manager, Ken Kragen, was also Lionel Richie's and was one of the organisers of the project. In 1991 he founded, together with John Y. Brown Jr., former chief executive of KFC, the restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters, which ceased trading in the United States and continues to operate in Asia. He announced his retirement in 2015 and gave his last concert on 25 October 2017 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with Dolly Parton among the guests. Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Cyndi Lauper, Ray Charles and Diana Ross have their own profiles in this series. Externally authored text, edited and verified for Rebobinados. Interpretations of the meaning of his work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from Variety, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Country Music Hall of Fame, Wikipedia and other press coverage.