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THEWEEK 28 March 2020

Obituaries

KennyRogers,whohasdied

aged 8 1,wasthe“grizzled

king”ofeasy-goingcountry

andwesternmusic,“a

gravel-voicedcharmmerchantwhospokeof

realthingswithjustahintofcheese”,saidThe

DailyTelegraph.Oneofthemostsuccessful

recordingartistsofalltime,hesoldmore

than 165 millionrecordsinhis60-yearcareer,

released 4 0albumsandhadalmost70Country

Top 40 hits,includingthose“all-timeclassic

jukeboxfavourites”Lucille;Ruby,Don’tTake

YourLovetoTown;CowardoftheCounty;

and, withhisoldfriendDollyParton,Islands

intheStream.Althoughbestknownasa

countrymusician,thebig-heartedstaralsohad

rootsindoo-wop,jazzandfolk–andhehad

massivecrossoverappeal:IslandsintheStream

waswrittenbytheBeeGees,andoriginally

intendedforDianaRoss;andin 1986 ,Rogers

wasvoted“favouritesingerofalltime”ina

pollforUSATodayandPeoplemagazine.

BorninHouston,Texas,in1938,KennyRogerswasthefourth

ofeightchildrenborntoLucille,anursingassistant, andEdward

Rogers,acarpenter who wasanalcoholic. Money wastight(he

grewupon ahousingproject)andmusic wasarefuge.All his

family played,butit wasseeingRayCharles inconcertwhenhe

was 12that inspired him, hesaid.Athigh school,he sangand

played guitar inadoo-wopband. Afterleavingschoolin1956,

he joinedajazz trio,and hehadhis first(minor) hittwo years

later,withaversion ofThatCrazyFeeling.Hethenmoved to

LosAngelesand joined thefolkgroup the New ChristieMinstrels.

In 196 7, heformedFirstEdition, which notchedup sevenhits

includingMelTillis’sRuby.Thatsongiswritten fromthepoint

of view ofaVietnam veteran, leftimpotentandin awheelchair

bythewar,who hastowatchhiswifegoingoutintheeveningsto

meetother men.“Featuringthepained,sandpapery vocaldelivery

that would becomeRogers’strademark”, itreachedNo.6onthe

Billboardpopchartin 1969 ,and No.2intheUK. “Allthesongs

Irecord fallintoone oftwocategories,as arule,” Rogerssaidin

2012.“Oneisballadsthatsaywhateveryman

wouldliketosayandeverywomanwouldlike

tohear.Theotherisstorysongsthathave

socialsignificance.”

FirstEditionweresopopular,theylaunched

theirownTVshowin 197 1,butby 1975 ,the

bandwas“incommercialdecline”,andRogers

setoffonasolocareer.Attherelatively

advancedageof38,heestablishedhimself

withtwomegahits:thenarrativeballads

Lucille(“InabarinToledoacrossfromthe

depot/Onabarstool,shetookoffherring...”)

andTheGambler,saidNME.Afterthat,he

recalled,hewasinundatedwithoffersofsongs

(herarelywrotehisown).TheGamblerhad

beensenttohimby2 3 -year-oldDonSchlitz.

Init,thenarratortellsofa“lifespentgambling

anddrinking,butexplainsthatthesecretto

survivingitallistotreatlifelikeapokergame:

“Yougottoknowwhentoholdthem/Know

whentofoldthem/Knowwhentowalkaway/

Knowwhentorun.”Hethenquietlydriftsofftosleepanddies.

Thestoryprovedsocompelling,Rogers went ontoplaya

characterbased onthegamblerinastringofTVfilms. But acting

wasn’t hisonlysideline: healso publishedabookof photographs

he’dtakenon tour (KennyRogers’sAmerica)andlauncheda

chainoffriedchickenjointscalledKennyRogers Roasters.

Known forhis duettingskills,hehad hits withSheenaEastonand

GladysKnight,amongothers,buthisbest-loved workwaswith

Parton. “Everybody always thoughtwewerehavinganaffair,”he

saidoftheirfriendship.“We didn’t.We justteased eachother and

flirtedwi theachotherfor30year s.”He alsosaid:“Firstly,I’m a

believer thattensionisbetter ifyoukeepitthanifyou satisfy it.

And then secondly,shesaidno tome!” Rogers played thelegends

slot atGlastonbury in2013,andfinallyretired in2018,on health

grounds.He wasmarriedfivetimes,andhadfivechildren.“Every

womanImarried, IreallylovedherwhenImarried her,”hesaid.

“And Idon’tblamethem forthemarriagefallingapart.Iblame

myselfandmy chosen field ofmusic.”

KennyRogers

1938-2020

SolKerzner becameoneofthe

“richestandmost despised

men” inSouthAfrica owing

to his creation ofSunCity –

SouthAfrica’sequivalent to LasVegas, said

The Times.Buil tdurin gthe apartheid era in the

so-called black homelandof Bophuthatswana,

it became known to itscritic sasSin City ,for

the vicesthatcould be indulged there. But the

toxicatmosphere in thecountry atthetime –

the townships in flames and South Africabeing a

pariah–guaranteeditssuccess.It was,according

to one observer,“agawdy palace” running on a

“high-octanefuel of gambling, alcohol, porn and

girlie shows”where “everythingwas fake... fake

elephants,fakebeaches, fakejungles, fake

breasts”. For richwhites,the resort wasaplaceto

blow offsteam.For poor blacks, itbroughtjobs, andthechance

of winningafortune on the slot machines.

Solomon Kerznerwas bornin asuburb of Johannesburg in

1935 ,the sonofAshkenaziJewishimmigrants.Solwas bullied at

schoolforbeing Jewish–andwas advisedbyhis fathertotakeup

boxing,the bettertodefend himself. Hebecameawelterweight

championatuniversity,where hestudiedaccountancy.

Pugnacious inbusinesstoo,hewasonly 29

whenheopenedSouthAfrica’sfirstfive-star

hotel (its initialdesignbasedon picturesinhotel

brochures he’d ordered infromAmerica).He

called itTheBeverly Hills.After that,his business

expanded rapidly,and in 1981,hepaid Frank

Sinatra $2mtosing at theopening ofSun City.

Soon, 1.5millionpeople ayear were making their

waythere,many on coaches helaid on, saidThe

Daily Telegraph. Meanwhile, bigstars including

Queen performedthere (arguing that asit wasn’t

technically in SouthAfrica,they were not

breaching sanctions). Thisprompted the release

of an anti-apartheidprotest song containing the

chorus“IAin’t Gonna Play Sun City”.Asecond

resort in South Africa–The Lost City–followed;

he also builtandoperatedluxury hotels and

casinosinMauritius, theUS,Dubai andelsewhere.

Althoughindeliblyassociated with theapartheid era, Kerzner

thrived in theRainbowNat ion too:Nelson Mandelaevenasked

himtoarrange t he VIP functionat hisinauguration.Itlater

transpiredhehad giventhe ANCalarge donationbeforethe

1994 election.Kerzner wasmarriedand divorced f ourtimes,

including toaformerMiss World, andhad fivechildren.

Sol Kerzner

1935-2020

Country music star who sold 165 million records

KennyRogers:gravel-voicedcharm

Sol Kerzner:achampion boxer

The pugnacious businessman behind Sun City