A Vote For Kenny Rogers For Nashville’s Country Music Hall-of-Fame

For all his success, Rogers has never received the Country Music Association’s top honor — Entertainer of the Year — despite being nominated for it five times, or been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame like peers Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton. He said he’d never even been invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry until 2005.

“There’s no question that I was viewed as an outsider. I never lived in Nashville, and I was more pop than a lot of people,” he said. “But when you choose the fence, you get what goes with it. I was too country to be pop and too pop to be country. I’m smart enough to know I brought a lot of that on myself.”

Kenny Rogers contributions to the importance of the genre are just as great as many of those inducted ahead of him, so surely he should be right up there. Did anyone stand taller or stretch the boundaries of country music wider than he did in his long and hit-filled heyday? With huge country hits such as The Gambler, Coward of the County, Islands In The Stream and Lucille that endure, it’s time. Two of his albums, The Gambler and Kenny, were named in a poll of "The 200 Most Influential Country Albums Ever". He was voted the "Favorite Singer of All-Time" in a 1986 joint poll by readers of both USA Today and People Magazine. He has received hundreds of awards for both his music and charity work. These include AMAs, Grammys, ACMs and CMAs, as well as a lifetime achievement award for a career spanning six decades in 2003. To date Rogers has recorded 65 albums, won practically every award there is to win, and with well over 120 million records sold, he's the No. 8 best selling artist of all time.

One of the biggest wasted opportunities is inducting deserving candidates posthumously when they could be inducted alive and well. With Kenny Rogers turning 70 this year, the selection committee should make Rogers’ induction a priority.