After a successful 60 year career, Kenny Rogers is calling it quits after his 2016 farewell tour. The retirement has caused Rogers to reminisce about his early days in the music business, and in a recent interview, the multi-platinum singer talked about his early days as a teenage guitar player with a group called the Scholars.
The Scholars were a Dallas-area band that was put together for only one reason.
“Look, guys get into bands to find the girls. We can kid ourselves all we want, but it’s never about money at that age,” Rogers confessed. “It’s about playing all the sock hops and the high schools and getting to meet the girls. And then all of a sudden someone pays you, and you go, ‘Wow, we’d never planned on this.’ And so you start on your journey to make more the next time, and then more the time after that, and to do that, you’re forced to improve your act. So it slowly becomes a business.”
While Kenny grew up listening to Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, the group emulated groups that were popular at that time like the Platters and the Four Freshman. Rogers admitted that he loved singing in a group and never intended to be a soloist.
“I never personally wanted to sing by myself — I always loved doing harmony, and I would’ve been happy to stay with a group for the rest of my life. But groups always fall apart, that’s just part of the dynamic.”
We’re sure that you agree that it’s hard to imagine country music without Kenny Rogers. He will be greatly missed when he retires next year.
