KENNY ROGERS
THE COUNTRY LEGEND CHOOSES HIS FAMILY OVER THE STAGE AND TAKES A BITTERSWEET FINAL BOW
The country legend opens up about his decision to leave the stage behind and be with his family.
In the emotional closing moments of a Nashville tribute concert last October that marked the end of Kenny Rogers’ touring career, his dear friend Dolly Parton added a bit of levity to the occasion. “I hope that many, many years from now, when I’m older, that I’ll know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em,” she said, winkingly referencing the lyrics to “The Gambler.” Then, turning to Kenny with a sly grin, the busty singer quipped, “You’re retiring, do you wanna hold ’em now?”
That touch of humor was much needed. Everyone at All In for the Gambler: Kenny Rogers’ Farewell Concert Celebration (airing on TV later this year) felt the weight of saying goodbye to Kenny, 79, who’s made the difficult decision to stop touring to enjoy his life with wife Wanda, and their 13-year-old twins, Jordan and Justin. “No question, I’ll miss the crowds who’ve always been so sweet. And I’ll miss the friendships,” the singer tells Closer of his 60-year career in which he sold more than 120 million records and scored 24 No. 1 hits. “It’s hard to retire, but in my heart I want to stay home with my family.”
THROUGH THE YEARS
Saying farewell to audiences will be tricky for the three-time Grammy winner, who hit it big in the ’70s and ’80s with songs like “Lucille” and “She Believes in Me.” “All I ever wanted to do was make music,” he admits, so going out on a high note is important to him. “Kenny would have continued forever,” an insider tells Closer, “but he takes pride as a performer. He just got to the point he didn’t feel he could deliver the performance his fans deserved any longer.”
Though he’s lived with hepatitis C for more than 23 years and battled skin cancer in 2014, Kenny says his doctors report he’s “scary healthy. It’s just my mobility that drives me crazy. I don’t get around as well as I did,” he adds of his
“Look, I’m an older dad. I want a chance to impart some of the wisdom I’ve gained in my life to my children.”
— Kenny
knee-replacement and rotator-cuff surgeries and persistent back issues.
Increased rest is essential, especially given his two energetic teens who are hungry for his attention. “My boys are playing football,” he says, “and we went to watch a game. They were so excited about me being there! That’s the kind of thing that, as a parent, you want to be part of as much as you can. It’s not about me anymore. It’s about them.”
That’s a lesson Kenny’s three other children — Carole, 59, Kenny Jr., 53, and Christopher, 36 — taught him. “He has a good relationship with them all,” the insider says of the older kids from three of his four previous marriages, “but he’s the first to admit they got the short end of the stick as far as his attention when his life was going a mile a minute.”
Marianne Rogers, Kenny’s fourth wife and mom to Christopher, still gives her ex a lot of credit. “A father on the road isn’t going to be as good as a father who comes home every day,” she tells Closer, “but Kenny was everything a mother would want for their child. He had a smile every day, and he was so thoughtful and loving.”
Though her 1993 divorce from Kenny was somewhat acrimonious, she insists Kenny “is a sweet
person, and he was a wonderful father,” adding, “and it must be true if his ex-wife is saying it!”
And his son Chris. “He always went out of his way to make me feel cared for, even though his career demanded a lot of energy,” Chris tells Closer. His favorite memory is a life-changing trip he took with his dad when Chris was in college. “He took me on a safari in Kenya,” he recalls. “I got to spend a good deal of time with him, which was pretty rare in those days.”
Kenny was a nurturing figure to many generations of his fellow performers, too. “He opened many doors for me,” Travis Tritt, who performed at his idol’s farewell show, tells Closer. “He took me under his wing when I was first getting started, allowing me to open shows. And opening shows for Kenny Rogers is a big deal,” Travis, 54, notes. “Kenny’s vocals always came from the heart and his voice is so recognizable. The material he picked was always top-of-the-line.”
Even younger artists, like Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott, 31, are aware of what country music is losing with Kenny’s retirement. “He always looked for every opportunity to encourage, inspire and share nuggets of wisdom that he had learned,” she reveals to Closer. “He wanted others to have the career that they deserve. And the way he connects with a crowd — he makes everyone feel like they’re in his living room.”
“To me, success is not really dollars:
It’s options. Money has never
driven me.”
— Kenny
HIS GREATEST HITS
The singer’s desire to help up-andcoming artists stems from the fact that his own road to success was hard-won. Kenny, whose dad battled alcoholism, “came from the projects in Houston. We had nothing,” he says, yet he tirelessly chased his dreams of being a musician ever since forming a doo-wop group in high school. He then landed in The New Christy Minstrels folk act before he and a few other members left to create The First Edition in 1967. Kenny’s growing popularity in that group helped him launch his solo career in 1976.
As his fame skyrocketed, Kenny always remembered a lesson his father, despite his struggles, had taught him. “My dad once said that a man is really judged by how much he gives back,” shares the singer, who for decades
raised money for a special-needs children’s center in Missouri. It was named after him in 2000. “I did not need credit,” he says of the hospital that serves patients and their families at no cost, “but I take great pride in it and what I’ve helped it accomplish.”
He’s also proud of his blissfully happy marriage to his wife. “The last 20 years with Wanda have been the most rewarding, and that’s no offense to any of the other people I was married to,” he says. “I just think I wasn’t ready before, and I was when I met her. She’s a great mother, a good friend and the best wife.” The 51-year-old Wanda is “really fun-loving and upbeat,” the insider says, “and she loves the idea of having Kenny home now.”
His twins are lucky to have him around more, too. “He’s fully present for Justin and Jordan,” the insider reveals. “He’s there for all of their school events, holidays, their birthday. They’re a big reason he’s shutting things down professionally. He believes he owes them the best and now he can do that.”
Kenny’s devotion to his kids is endless. “I tell the boys every day how much I love them,” he says, “and I think it means a lot. There’s no question; they know how I feel.”
His family’s gain is country music’s loss, though, and that realization stung all who were at his Nashville farewell concert last fall. “That’s why I’m wearing waterproof mascara: I’ve cried a lot,” Wynonna Judd, 53, told Closer at the event, during which she performed with her mother, Naomi.
Dolly struggled with accepting the end to her friend’s touring as well. “He’s a wonderful man, a wonderful singer and a wonderful duet partner,” Dolly, 71, tells Closer. “But he’s only retiring from show business right now. We’re still going to be buddies. My heart will always be with Kenny.”
She serenaded him that evening with her trademark tune “I Will Always Love You” before she and Kenny closed the show with their 1983 duet “Islands in the Stream.” The sentimental performance brought the crowd to a tearful standing ovation. “We go out like rock stars!” Dolly quipped, as she and Kenny dropped their mics when the curtain fell on Kenny’s long and respected career.
Saying goodbye is hard, but “I’ve done everything I set out to do,” Kenny insists. “Every goal I’ve set, I’ve done that and there’s a point where you have to say, ‘I’ve had my turn. Let someone else have it.’ ” Besides, he has new goals. “I’m going to enjoy my time at home with my wife and kids,” he promises. “Every moment.”