YOU
DECORATED MY LIFE
KENNY
ROGERS
SONGWRITERS: BOB
MORRISON & DEBBIE HUPP
COUNTRY: U. S. A.
ALBUM: KENNY
LABEL: UNITED ARTISTS
GENRE: COUNTRY
YEAR: 1979
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938– March
20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, actor, record producer,
and entrepreneur. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but
also charted more than 420 hit singles across various genres, topping the
country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United
States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his
lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country.
He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of
all time.
In
the late 1950s, Rogers began his recording career with the Houston-based group
the Scholars, who first released "The Poor Little Doggie". After
some solo releases, including 1958's "That Crazy Feeling", Rogers
then joined a group with the jazz singer Bobby Doyle. In 1966 he became a member of
the folk ensemble the New Christy Minstrels, playing
double bass and bass guitar as well as singing. In 1967, he and several members of the New
Christy Minstrels left to found the group the First Edition, with whom he scored his
first major hit, "Just Dropped In (To See What
Condition My Condition Was In)", a
psychedelic rock song which peaked at number five on the Billboard charts. As Rogers took an increased leadership role in the First
Edition following the success of 1969's "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town",
the band gradually changed styles to a more country feel. The band broke up in 1975–76, and Rogers embarked on a long
and successful solo career, which included several successful collaborations,
including duets with singers Dolly
Parton and Sheena Easton and a songwriting partnership with Lionel Richie.
His signature song, 1978's "The
Gambler", was a crossover hit that won him a Grammy Award in 1980 and was selected in 2018 for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library
of Congress. He developed the Gambler
persona into a character for a successful series of television films starting with 1980's Emmy-nominated
Kenny Rogers as The Gambler.
Rogers' albums The
Gambler and Kenny were featured in the About.com 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.
He received numerous awards, such as the AMAs,
Grammys,
ACMs, and CMAs as well as a lifetime achievement
award for a career spanning six decades in 2003. Later success included the
2006 album release Water
& Bridges, an across-the-board hit that
hit the Top 5 in the Billboard Country Albums sales charts, also charting in the Top 15 of the Billboard 200.
The first single
from the album, "I Can't Unlove You", was also a sizable
chart hit. Remaining a popular entertainer around the world, he
continued to tour regularly until his retirement in 2017.
Rogers had acting roles in movies and
television shows, including the title roles in Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, the
MacShayne series for The
NBC Mystery Movie, and the 1982 feature film Six Pack.
He was a co-founder of the restaurant chain Kenny
Rogers Roasters in collaboration with
former Kentucky
Fried Chicken CEO John Y. Brown Jr. Although the stores closed in the United States, they are still a
fixture in Asia.
"You Decorated My Life" is a song
written by Debbie Hupp and Bob Morrison, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Rogers.
It was released in September 1979 as the lead single from his álbum Kenny.
It was a number-one hit on the Billboard Country Singles chart, and peaked at
number seven on the Billboard Hot 100.
All my life was a paper once plain, pure and white
Till you moved with your pen changin' moods now and then
Till the balance was right
Then you added some music, ev'ry note was in place
And anybody could see all the changes in me by the look on my face
And you decorated my
life, created a world where dreams are apart
And you decorated my life by paintin' your love all over my heart
You decorated my life
Like a rhyme with no
reason in an unfinished song
There was no harmony life meant nothin' to me, until you cam along
And you brought out the colors, what a gentle surprise
Now I'm able to see all the things life can be shinin' soft in your eyes
And you decorated my
life, created a world where dreams are a part
And you decorated my life by paintin' your love all over my heart
You decorated my life.