Kenny Rogers

==Early life==
Rogers was born the fourth of eight children on August 21, 1938, at [[St. Joseph Medical Center (Houston)|St Joseph's Infirmary]] in [[Houston]], Texas.<ref name="abc13.com">{{cite news|url=https://abc13.com/houston-kenny-rogers-dead-san-felipe-courts-fourth-ward/6036307/|title=Kenny Rogers remembered through the years in Houston|work=[[KTRK-TV]]}}</ref> His parents were Lucille Lois Rogers, a nurse's assistant, and Edward Floyd Rogers (1904–1975), a carpenter. Rogers was said to be of [[Irish Americans|Irish]] and Native American ancestry.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dalyhe|first1=John|title=Kenny Rogers takes his love to (Killarney) town|url=http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/kenny-rogers-takes-his-love-to-killarney-town-235720.html|website=[[Irish Examiner]]|date=July 2013|access-date=February 11, 2017}}</ref> Rogers attended [[Wharton Dual Language Academy|Wharton Elementary School]],<ref>Rogers, Kenny. ''Luck or Something Like It: A Memoir''. [[HarperCollins]], October 2, 2012. {{ISBN|0062071602}}, 9780062071606. [[Google Books]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=EoweMleE6X4C&pg=PT11 PT11] ([https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22+I+started+grade+school+at+Wharton+Elementary+School+on+West+Gray+Street+with+the+hope+of+blending+in%22 See Google search page]) – "I started grade school at Wharton Elementary School on West Gray Street with[...]"</ref> George Washington Junior High School, and graduated from Jefferson Davis High School (now [[Northside High School (Houston)|Northside High School]]) in 1956.

In 1949, Rogers won a talent show at the Texan Theatre. He served as a busboy at the [[The Rice (Houston)|Rice Hotel]] and swept floors at a hat store for $9 a week. He later attended the [[University of Houston]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.houstonpress.com/music/kenny-rogers-passes-away-at-81-11459641|title=Houston Native and Music Megastar Kenny Rogers Dies at 81|last=Ruggiero|first=Bob|date=March 21, 2020|website=Houston Press|access-date=March 23, 2020}}</ref>

In 1986, on ''[[The Phil Donahue Show]]'', Rogers told the audience that he was the first person in his family "as far back as we know" to graduate from high school. "We were broke. We lived in a federal housing project. I think the most money my father ever made was $75 a week. There were times as a child that, I don't think I was ever really hungry – I always had food to eat – but there's no question that our family were nutritionally-deprived at times. We'd eat peanut butter sandwiches, cause that's all there was. Quite honestly, when you're a kid, you don't know any better, you think that's how everyone eats."<ref>{{Citation|title=Phil Donahue Show w/Kenny Rogers: 10-7-1986|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_brfPJOU1QI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/_brfPJOU1QI| archive-date=December 12, 2021 |url-status=live|language=en|access-date=August 22, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>