Last duet: Kenny, Dolly announce final performance together

NASHVILLE, TENN. » Two of country music’s biggest stars, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, whose onstage chemistry spawned hit duets like “Islands in the Stream” and “Real Love,” will be making their final performance together this year.

Rogers, who is retiring from touring, says his final performance with Parton will be part of an allstar farewell show to be held at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Oct. 25. The two have been performing together for more than

30 years since “Islands in the Stream,” written by the Bee

Gees, became a pop crossover platinum hit in 1983.

Other performers for the farewell show are Little Big

Town, Flaming Lips, Idina Menzel, Elle King, Jamey Johnson and Alison Krauss, with more names to be announced. Rogers made the announcement Tuesday at a press conference in Nashville. Tickets for the show will go on sale July 21.

Rogers, 78, said it’s been more than a decade since he performed with Parton for a CMT special.

“I think we owe it to her to let her go on with her career, but we owe it to me to do it one more time, and we’re going to do that,” Rogers said after the press conference.

In his 60-year career, Rogers has had several successful duet partners, including Dottie West, Kim Carnes, Sheena Easton and Linda Davis, but Parton’s star power made their collaborations a tour de force.