Kenny Rogers — “All My Life”

Entered Top 40:  May 28, 1983
3  weeks 
Peaked at: 37

Kenny Rogers was crossing over from Country into Adult Contemporary in the early ’80s, collaborating with Lionel Richie (“Lady,” written by Richie, was Rogers’ first Pop #1 hit in 1980) and David Foster. Foster produced “We’ve Got Tonight,” Rogers’ duet with Sheena Easton from early 1983, covering the 1978 Bob Seger song. “We’ve Got Tonight” was a #1 country hit, #2 AC, and #6 overall. “All My Life” was the followup single, also produced by Foster, and very much in the AC lane, also reaching #2 there, but only #13 Country.

“All My Life” seems like it’s written to be someone’s swan song, but Rogers would be back with a vengeance at the end of the summer when his duet with Dolly Parton, “Islands in the Stream,” topped the Pop, AC, and Country charts in the US and Canada.

Kenny Rogers would remain a big deal in the country and AC worlds, as well as in Christmas music (hey, if you look a like a silver-fox Santa, you get to do 5 or so holiday records; I don’t make the rules). He also will have another Bottom Five hit, but it will come after I conclude this project. “Buy Me A Rose,” his 1999 collaboration with Allison Krauss & Billy Dean, entered the Hot 100 in March 2000 and peaked at #40, whereas I plan to wrap at the end of 1999. “Buy Me A Rose” was a Country #1 hit, making Rogers the oldest person to top the Country charts at the time (since passed by Willie Nelson).