Emily Eavis, Keith Urban, Bryan Adams and Dolly Parton lead Kenny Rogers tributes

"Farewell dear Kenny"

Country music legend Kenny Rogers died late last night (March 20) from natural causes, his family confirmed in a statement. He was 81-years-old.

“The Rogers family is sad to announce that Kenny Rogers passed away last night at 10:25PM at the age of 81,” the statement began. “Rogers passed away peacefully at home from natural causes under the care of hospice and surrounded by his family.”

Rogers had a number of hits across the 1970s and ’80s, including ‘The Gambler’, ‘Lady’, ‘Through The Years’, ‘Lucille’ and more. He’s a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, a three-time Grammy winner, and had 24 number-one songs across his near-60-year career.

A number of the singer’s friends, collaborators and fellow artists have taken to social media to pay tribute.

Dolly Parton paid an emotional tribute, saying: “My heart’s broken, and a big old chunk of it has gone with him today.”

“I couldn’t believe it this morning when I got up, turned on the TV, checking to see what the coronavirus was doing, and they told me that my friend and singing partner Kenny Rogers had passed away,” Parton said in a video message posted on social media.

“I know that we all know that Kenny is in a better place than we are today, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to be talking to God some time today if he ain’t already. He’s going to be asking him to spread some light on much of this darkness going on here.”

“THANK YOU KENNY ROGERS,” Keith Urban tweeted. “For decades of genre bending music and collaborations – for making music that travelled the globe .. and songs that became common threads for people from all walks of life !! GO REST HIGH BROTHER. With love and deep appreciation.”

Bryan Adams tweeted: “RIP @_KennyRogers Thanks for all the music and doing the best version of “when you love someone”, (and of course “the gambler” which is one of the best songs ever). Peace #KennyRogers”

Glastonbury organiser shared a video of Rogers performing at the festival in 2013, accompanied by the caption: “Farewell dear Kenny.”

View this post on Instagram

Farewell dear Kenny ❤️

A post shared by Emily Eavis (@emily_eavis) on

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Travis Tritt performed a song in honour of Rogers. “Just my small way of remembering @_KennyRogers,” he tweeted. “This is a song that Kenny wrote with Waylon Jennings (another musical hero) in mind.”

See other tributes to Rogers below:

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