"All My Life" by Kenny Rogers

Song#:  1434
Date:  04/30/1983
Debut:  76
Peak:  37
Weeks:  11
Genre:  Country Crossover, Adult Contemporary



Pop Bits:  Rogers' first single and title track to his album "We've Got Tonight" was another multi-format hit. The song, a duet with Sheena Easton, returned him to the Pop Top 10 (#6) while reaching #2 AC and #1 country. This next single was probably meant to capitalize on this crossover audience and it certainly worked at AC where the song peaked at #2. However, Country and Pop seemed to be tiring of his mainstream ballads and it faltered at #13 Country while just making it into the Pop Top 40.

ReduxReview:  The Foster-ization of Rogers continues with this song (producer David Foster, that is). And like "We've Got Tonight," I think it works very well. It helped that they started with a terrific song. It has a very pretty verse that leads to a slammin' chorus. During the 80s, Rogers flirted quite a bit with pop/AC-leaning tunes, but I'd have to say that this song and his 1984 single "What About Me?" (both produced by Foster) were the furthest away from country he got as a solo artist. This really is just pure pop and I loved it. I bought the single and played it quite a bit. The song has gotten lost over the years and I hadn't heard it in ages. It was nice to get reacquainted with this lovely tune.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Rogers' career began to take off when he and his band The First Edition hit the Pop chart in 1967 with "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" (#5). But nine years earlier, Rogers recorded a single that became a local hit in his hometown of Houston, Texas. Under the name Kenneth Rogers, the doo-wop song "That Crazy Feeling" was issued in 1958 on the Carlton label. While the song did very well in Texas, it didn't break nationally. Rogers gave it another shot in 1966 on Mercury Records with a jazzy rock version of "Here's That Rainy Day." Again, nothing came from it. But the following year he finally broke through with The First Edition song.

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