Luck or Something Like It: A Memoir

by Kenny Rogers Narrated by Taber Burns

Overview

A living legend of Country Music and a worldwide music icon, superstar Kenny Rogers has enjoyed a fascinating five decades in show business, and he tells the full story of his remarkable life and career in Luck or Something Like It. From his days with hit group The First Edition to his sterling solo work, the artist who "knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em" knows how to tell a captivating life story as well-bringing a golden era of Country Music to life as he recounts his remarkable rise to the top of the charts. An honest, moving, eye-opening view of a musician's life on the road, Luck or Something Like It is the definitive music memoir-a backstage pass to fifty years of performing and recording presented by the one and only Kenny Rogers, one of the bestselling artists ever.

Editorial Reviews

As a singer-songwriter, Kenny Rogers has won hundreds of awards and charted more than 120 hit singles, but beyond his busy marital life (five marriages) and his Kenny Rogers Roasters eateries, most of us little about this surprisingly reticent man. This memoir changes that. Luck or Something Like It reveals how the young Houston musician experimented with doo-wop, jazz, and mainstream pop before settling into the country genre for which he's been known. It also describes how his deep faith and the importance to his life of artists including Elvis Pressley, Dolly Parton, and Ray Charles. He also delineates his complicated relationship with the Nashville country music establishment, revealing how his evolving musical preferences sometimes made him an outsider among purists.

Publishers Weekly

Kenny Rogers waited until he was 74 years old to publish this memoir, probably because his life—while certainly full—lacks the over-the-top shenanigans of other mainstream celebrities. A nondrinker and nonsmoker, Rogers only experimented with drugs early in his career; women have been his biggest vice, and he writes candidly here about his five marriages and an early-'90s phone-sex scandal that seems almost quaint today. In the same relaxed, simple voice that delivered the massive crossover hits "The Gambler," "She Believes in Me" and "Lady," Rogers chronicles his childhood in the housing projects of Houston, where his sister Geraldine instilled in him a love of singing harmony that would later help him sell more than 125 million albums; his transition from bass player and singer in the First Edition to solo superstar status near the age of 40;and his various side projects, including USA for Africa, Kenny Rogers Roasters, tennis, television, photography and even theater. Along the way, Rogers takes swipes at Tom Jones, Lorne Greene, the Captain & Tennille and at least one of his ex-wives, while also sharing the catalysts for some of his most abiding hits. Ripe with nostalgia, this book should please Rogers's fans while encouraging newcomers to explore his diverse and deep body of work. (Oct.)

Toronto Star

Engagingly honest.

BookPage

In his aw-shucks, sit-down-and-listen-for-a-spell memoir.... he reminisces in never-before-told stories…Rogers gracefully recalls the ups and downs on his wild ride to fame.

Entertainment Weekly

Rogers is an exquisite storyteller, able to get across a range of ideas and emotions in songs like ‘Lucille’ and ‘The Gambler.’ That breezy, conversational tone comes across on the page.

Library Journal

In his 52-year career, pop/country singer Rogers has recorded 65-plus albums, including one Diamond, 19 Platinums, and 31 Golds; he's sold more than 120 million records worldwide and has nearly 250,000 fans on Facebook. His memoir will obviously touch on a lot of music making, as well as music makers, from Ray Charles to Dolly Parton. And he'll be promoting on his annual Christmas & Hits Tour.

Kirkus Reviews

Unassuming memoir by one-time chartbuster Rogers, he of "The Gambler" fame. The author's approach to memoir writing is consonant with his approach to song crafting and chicken making: crowd-pleasing, unchallenging and resolutely middle-of-the-road. Some might call it bland, but it's calculated not to offend. A child of hardscrabble East Texas, Rogers doesn't dig too deeply to find the well of the past; "I can't say for sure," he writes, "but I just took it for granted that I was part Irish, part Indian, and that was that." A talent for singing and playing guitar brought him early into professional music, and he got his first hit with a psychedelic-lite version of Mickey Newbury's "Just Dropped In," refreshed on the hip-o-meter when given a standout moment in The Big Lebowski. Though shot through with show-business anecdotes, Rogers' narrative doesn't dish much dirt; when he tells a joke, refreshingly, it's most often about himself, as when he mangled an expensive amplifier early on in his career: "We didn't have the heart to confess how truly stupid Mickey [Jones] and I were, so we did the next most honorable thing. We blamed the airlines." Neither does Rogers dig too hard into the touchier parts of his past, mentioning numerous ex-wives only in passing. The refrain, "What in the world were you thinking, Kenneth Ray?" runs throughout, but rarely does he stop to really turn the question over--though he does let us know why he never cozied up to drugs, for which, and for all the general mayhem that Rogers doesn't chronicle, please consult Keith Richards' Life. "The audience expects to be entertained 100 percent for their ticket dollar," Rogers writes. This doesn't really hit that 100 percent mark, but it's a light and pleasant read all the same.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173462145
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/05/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

Related Subjects

• Biography
• Music, Film & Performing Arts
• Music
• General & Miscellaneous Biography
• Music Biography
• Country Music
• Biography - General & Miscellaneous
• Country & Folk Musicians - Biography
• Country Music - General & Miscellaneous
• Singers - Biography