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Crossover Country Superstar Rogers Dies at 81

Associated Press

   NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - Singer Kenny Rogers, who embodied ``The
   Gambler'' persona and whose musical career spanned jazz, folk, country
   and pop, has died at 81.

   Rogers died at home Friday night in Sandy Springs, Georgia,
   representative Keith Hagan told The Associated Press. He was under
   hospice care and died of natural causes, Hagan said.

   The Houston-born balladeer with a husky voice had such as ``Lucille,''
   ``Lady'' and ``Islands in the Stream,'' the latter with Dolly Parton.
   He sold tens of millions of records, won three Grammy Awards and was
   the star of TV movies, making him a superstar in the late `70s and
   '80s. With his silver beard and folksy charm, the Grammy winner
   excelled as a musical stylist for more than six decades. He had retired
   from touring in 2017.

   Despite his crossover success, he always preferred to be thought of as
   a country singer.

   ``You either do what everyone else is doing and you do it better, or
   you do what no one else is doing and you don't invite comparison,''
   Rogers told The Associated Press in 2015. ``And I chose that way
   because I could never be better than Johnny Cash or Willie [Nelson] or
   Waylon [Jennings] at what they did. So I found something that I could
   do that didn't invite comparison to them. And I think people thought it
   was my desire to change country music. But that was never my issue.''

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