Born in Texas in 1938 and raised in one of the state's poorest Federal Housing projects, the country singer Kenny Rogers grew up to become one of the most recognizable celebrities in the United States. Although variously a television and film actor, photographer, author, and fast food entrepreneur, it is for his music that he has secured a place in popular American culture.

Rogers began his first career, music, in the 1950s when he joined a singing group called the Scholars, who had local hits. He made his first national television appearance in 1958, when a solo hit on a local label, Carlton Records, became popular enough to land him an American Bandstand slot. In the late 1950s, he played bass in a jazz combo called the Bobby Doyle Three, and made one record with them before being given a solo contract with Mercury. The arrangement...