Las Vegas Sun

By Jerry Fink

Thu, May 1, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Kenny Rogers was riding on his tour bus in Northern Nevada, doing a phone interview, when he casually mentioned he was giving serious thought to retirement.

The man who went from singing doo-wop in the ’50s to jazz to pop to country isn’t tired or bored, even though he’s close to 70 and has been entertaining fans for 50 years.

It isn’t that he’s lost his golden touch. He’s still turning out hits. Last year he won CMT Music Awards’ Album of the Year for “Water & Bridges.”

It isn’t that he’s losing his voice. He can still hit the notes.

It’s that he and his wife, Wanda, have twin sons — Justin Charles and Jordan Edward, born July 6, 2004.

“My priorities have shifted so much,” says Rogers, who will be performing this weekend at the Orleans. “Not so much that I don’t enjoy music, not so much that I don’t enjoy performing — but so much that I’m not willing to sacrifice my family.”

Regardless of when it ends, it has been a remarkable career, beginning with his doo-wop years, which were followed by years with the Bobby Doyle Trio and then the New Christy Minstrels and then the First Edition, which had a hit with “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town.”

Music lifted him from poverty in Houston and made him a wealthy man, but he says that isn’t why he sings.

“Money has never driven me, ever, ever, ever,” he emphasizes.

Rogers was talking about his bus when he brought up calling it quits.

Where are you?

I’m on my bus up around Reno. I spend so much time on it it’s like being home almost. I’ve got a flat-screen TV, a chaise longue, a kitchen, a remote control. What more do you need?

And no yard to mow.

Right. It’s very low maintenance.

You travel a lot. Do you wear out a lot of buses?

I’ve had this bus about four years. If I knew how much longer I was going to work I’d probably get another one, but this is a great bus. I’ve got it just like I want it now and the bus runs great, so I’m just going to keep it for now. But if I keep going after next year I’ll probably get another bus.

If you keep going?

I have identical twin boys who will be 4 in July. It takes the fun out of being on the road. When it was just my wife, Wanda, and I, we didn’t care where we were. We might as well be in Cincinnati as St. Louis. But now it’s getting harder because the boys are in preschool and I don’t like for them to miss that because that’s part of the foundation for their education. It just takes the fun out of it. It’s such a great age. They change so much within a two- to three-week period. Getting there (to engagements) is not as much fun as it used to be. But once I get there there’s no place I’d rather be because I do love walking onstage and performing. That, coupled with the fact that I had a total knee replacement in January and I’m not even supposed to be working yet. I still feel like I’m limping onstage and I hate that. Every now and then, if it feels obvious enough, I do explain it to the audience.

Are you talking about retiring completely, or just cutting back? Your fans probably can’t imagine a music world without Kenny Rogers.

It’s an interesting thing. I’ve never thought of myself not singing. You know, I’ve always been a believer that you have to have three things to be happy in your life. You have to have someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to. I think music has given me something to do, something to look forward to. I just wonder what I would do (without the music). I’m a very creative guy. I do my own landscaping. I design. I’ve flipped a lot of big real estate things and made a lot of money doing that. But it’s just not the same. I’ve always said there’s a lot of things I can do but music is what I am.

It scares me a little bit to say, “That’s it. I’m not going to go out anymore.” But I’m not sure that I can do it halfway. I have about 60 employees, most of whom have been with me over 20 years, and they’re family to me, so I have to work a certain number of days to support that. The thought of telling all those guys, “Hey, you’re on your own now,” really bothers me, so I have mixed emotions about what I should do, what I want to do and what I probably will do.

This is the first year of my life I’ve actually considered not going out again. What I don’t want to do is a goodbye tour and then say, “Oh, I can’t do this, I’m coming back.” I hate that. When I say goodbye I’m going to say goodbye.

When you leave you certainly will be missed, but your decision is understandable.

When the boys were baptized I wrote this little thing that said, “Children give a marriage purpose and marriage gives a life purpose.” Music is a wonderful gift and I don’t know whether I get more than I give or give more than I get or what, but with kids it really is a purpose. I have a purpose now. I really need to lay a foundation. I read an article the other day that said if you don’t teach a child between the ages of 2 and 6 respect, obedience, honor, etiquette — all these things they need to know — if they don’t know them by 6, you just can’t teach them after 6 years old. So this is a very crucial time to be a very big part of their life.

During your career you’ve won almost every award there is. Are there any you would like to have won, but didn’t?

The one I never won that I felt I deserved — but it’s not sour grapes, because I understand it — I never won Entertainer of the Year Award in the CMAs (County Music Association awards). I think a lot of that is because, honestly, at that point they didn’t consider me country enough. They thought I was a pop artist coming in having success in country. That’s the only thing I can imagine, because at one point I represented a tremendous part of the country music income that was coming in. No question I was doing more than anyone else. I think there’s a protectionism in country music. It’s not necessarily bad, it’s just what it is. I would have liked to have had that (award), but I think it’s too late for that, so I quit worrying about it.

Which award do you take the most pride in?

An award called the Horatio Alger award. It’s given to people who start from nothing and create a life and give back to the community. It’s a very prestigious award. I think that’s the award that kind of represents what I attempted to do better than all of the awards, categorically, that I’ve won. Also, I’m very proud of the People’s Choice Awards, because it’s voted on by the people.

Are you working on any other projects, in light of your possible retirement?

I’m in the middle of a new album. It may very well be my last so I’m putting a lot of thought into it, as to what I want it to feel like. I’m not reaching out for commercial songs. I never felt I was a particularly good singer, but I’ve always felt I could find story songs. So I’ve got a couple of songs now that are really, really wonderful.

When might the album be released?

This is my 50th year performing, so there’s a lot of symbolism to this year. Also, my 70th birthday will be in August. So we’re shooting for a release somewhere around that period. We may have a big party that’s televised, ... a 70th birthday party. A lot of people will be coming in. It will be me singing with them and them singing stuff. It’s a very cool idea. We’re working on that right now, trying to see if we can make it make sense. I’m not very good at tributes, sitting out in the audience clapping while people are singing “Islands in the Stream.”

What will be your legacy?

I don’t know. I think in the music business what I might have done — along with several other people at a period in time — is to have brought a lot of people to country music that would never have listened to country music. I was a little more pop than country, and some country is not palatable to the average person — but if you give them something they can relate to they will listen. The one thing about country music is that once you listen to it you don’t leave because there’s an honesty there that’s just not there in other music.

What was your motivation?

To me it’s always been about doing something I love. My mom told me when I was a kid, find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life, and I’ve been so fortunate to have been able to do that. If country radio never plays my records again I can’t complain. It was a great ride and so much fun.

At least you will be going out as one of the top entertainers in the world.

That’s a great gift. There’s a certain status to surviving. I think that’s what I have. I’ve been around so long most people know who I am. My job was to entertain, to make them laugh. It was not important they say, “He’s the best entertainer I ever heard,” it’s important they say, “I enjoyed the show and I had a great time.”

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