Kenny Rogers-"The Gambler" (1978)

By 1978 when Kenny Rogers released the album "The Gambler", his fifth album chronologically to date, he was already an experienced country musician with several hits on his back, his works "Kenny Rogers" (77), "Daytime Friends "(77) and" Love or Something Like it "(78) had reached the top of the charts, getting several platinum records for sales.
Kenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers was born in Texas in 1938, his childhood was spent in one of the poorest sectors of the city of Houston, and he began his career at the age of 20, playing songs by other singers of the time.
In 1966 he was part of a folk group called The New Christy Minstrels. In addition to Kenny, the still unknown Gene Clark and Kim Carnes were active in the group. The following year Rogers and some members left the band to form The First Edition, which would later adopt the name Kenny Rogers & the First Edition.
With this band he had some hits that performed well on the pop and country charts such as 'Ruby, don't take your love to town', 'Reuben James' or 'Something's burning'.
In 1975 Kenny Rogers dissolved the group and began a solo career, achieving in 1977 the success that catapulted him to international fame, 'Lucille'. The issue was # 1 in many countries selling more than five million copies.
Another of his great country hits was the song "Coward of the County". In 1979 his romantic ballad "She believes in me" enshrines him not only as a country singer but as a solid romantic performer on the charts around the world. In 1980 with "Lady" he not only obtained world fame but the confirmation of being a great music star, he also won a Grammy award.
With this new album Rogers inaugurates his own characteristic style, he also started as an actor in movies and TV series.
As of 1978 his career reached very high levels of popularity worldwide with 'The gambler' (1978), 'Coward of the county' (1979), 'Lady', his first No. 1 on the pop charts (1980), 'We 've got tonight' (1982) and with Sheena Easton, 'Crazy' (1985).
In 1980 he starred in a TV series and several sequels based on two of his songs: 'The Gambler' and 'Coward of the county', which maintained their popularity in the 1990s despite the fact that their recordings no longer had the same impact on the sales lists. He continued to reap number 1s on the country charts with songs like 'Morning desire' (1985), 'Tomb of the unknown love' (1986), 'Make no mistake, she's mine' (1987, with Ronnie Milsap) and again on the 2000 with 'Buy me a rose' with Alison Krauss and Billy Dean.
Today Kenny Rogers is considered a country legend and is reflected in many awards that he has been reaping for four decades.