A lot of country music stars were a part band or were in a different music genre before landing in hitting it big in country music. Kenny Rogers is no exception. He was part of the group "The First Edition" and before that "The New Christy Minstrels" in the 60's. His big breakthrough would come in the 70's.

 

In the late 60's Rogers had a major hit with "The First Edition" with a song written by country star Mel Tillis called "Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town".

Then the hits stop coming, the band broke up and Rogers was deep in debt. In 1975 he signed with United Artist his songs started to take on the country pop sound he would find success with.

On this day in 1977, Rogers would have a Number One hit with a song that would be a big breakthrough for him. It was called "Lucille". I've always like the song because it was good and it mentions my home town of Toledo. It won the CMA's Single of The Year Award and also went to Number Five on the pop charts.

After that he scored with five straight Number One songs. Also Roger found success recording duets with pop artists like Sheena Easton and Kim Carnes. He made numerous t.v. appearances and had his own specials.

Recently, he appeared on Lionel Richie's new album called "Tuskegee", in which he sings "Lady", a Richie song he covered and took to Number One in the early 80's.

But here is the song "Lucille" on the "retro rack".

 

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