Kenny Rogers: Any Requests?
Kenny Rogers will be the next guest artist on Live By Request on the Arts & Entertainment cable TV channel, to be hosted by CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Mark McEwen Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.
Rogers dropped by This Morning Tuesday to talk about his career and, of course, to sing a song.
He says he once heard some advice: "Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
Adds Rogers, "I'm lucky that that happened to me."
"I used to sell office supplies in Houston, and I was very good at it," says Rogers. "I made more money than anybody in that office ever made, and I was only working three hours a day, because I wanted to play music."
But when his boss found out, he fired him because he wasn't working an eight-hour day.
"It was frustrating to me, because I always knew music is what I wanted to do, and success wasn't important to me," he says. "I wanted to sing songs, and that's what brought me pleasure."
At the moment, he is particularly fond of a song called The Greatest, written by Don Schlitz, who wrote The Gambler, a hit for Rogers 10 years ago.
"I made a vow at that time, that every 10 years, I would do a Don Schlitz song," says Rogers, adding that The Greatest, like The Gambler, is more of a story than a song. "And that is what I do best," he says.
Rogers has received scores of entertainment awards, including three Grammys and 11 People's Choice trophies. Although he had a hit record as early as 1957 (That Crazy Feeling), it wasn't until the late '60s that he hit the charts again, as the lead singer of The First Edition.
The First Edition disbanded in 1976 and, the following year, Rogers had four country music hits as a solo act, including his crossover hit Lucille.
His hit song The Gambler has inspired four made-for-TV movies in which he starred. Rogers has made a specialty of "story songs," which also include Coward of the County.
Other successful Rogers releases including Lady, You Decorated My Life, She Believes in Me, and Islands in the Stream, his duet with Dolly Parton.
Rogers also enjoys photography and has published two books, Kenny Rogers' America, a collection of black-and-white landscapes, and Your Friends and Mine, featuring celebrity portraits.
Next up for Rogers is a European concert tour. He's working on a new album, After Dark, that will be released in Europe to coincide with the tour. His next U.S. album, She Rides Wild Horses, will be released in May.
Live By Request will be webcast live Wednesday evening at www.livebyrequest.com. Rogers will take song requests through that Web site, as well as by an 800 number, to be announced at the time of the program.