Today is Their Birthday-Musicians: August 21: Today, singer Kenny Rogers- "Lucille," "Don't Take Your Love to Town"

-----

Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers was born in Houston Texas on August 21, 1938. Rogers has charted more than 120 hit singles across various music genres and topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone.

His career began in the mid-1950s, when he recorded with a doo-wop group called The Scholars who had some success with a single called "Poor Little Doggie." Rogers was not the lead singer of the group and after two more singles they disbanded when their leader went solo.

In 1966 he joined The New Christy Minstrels as a singer and double bass player. Rogers and fellow members Mike Settle, Terry Williams and Thelma Camacho left the group and formed The First Edition in 1967. The group had a string of hits on both the pop and country charts, before Rogers struck out on his own.

The single "Lucille" was a major hit in 1977, reaching number one on the pop charts in 12 countries, selling over five million copies, and firmly establishing Rogers' post-First Edition career. On the strength of "Lucille," the album Kenny Rogers reached No. 1 in the Billboard Country Album Chart. More success was to follow, including the multi-million selling album The Gambler and another international Number 1 single, "Coward of the County," taken from the equally successful album, Kenny.

In the late 1970s, Rogers teamed up with close friend and Country Music legend Dottie West for a series of albums and duets. Together the duo won two gold records, two CMA Awards, an ACM nomination, two Grammy nominations and 1 Music City News Award for their two hit albums Every Time Two Fools Collide and Classics.

To date, Kenny Rogers has charted more than 60 top 40 hit singles (including upwards of 25 No. 1's) and 50 of his albums have charted. His music has also been featured in top selling movie soundtracks, such as Convoy, Urban Cowboy and The Big Lebowski.

Two of Kenny's albums, The Gambler and Kenny, are featured in the About.com poll of "The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever". He was voted the "Favorite Singer of

All-Time" in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People. He has received hundreds of awards for both his music and charity work. These include AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003.

In October 2012 he released a book Luck or Something Like it: A Memoir about his ups and downs in his musical career. With Mike Blakely, he has written a novel, What Are the Chances, to be released in September 2013.