In the present day’s trivia query: which woman’s identify lent itself to 2 fully completely different songs, one which topped the US R&B chart in 1957 and one other that was a No.1 nation hit and within the UK, 20 years later? Her identify was “Lucille,” and after Little Richard’s rock’n’roll smash of the 50s, Kenny Rogers picked a fantastic time to file his music of that identify on August 5, 1976.
The nation “Lucille” was written by two completed composers within the style, Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, each of whom have many different notable credit to their identify. Bowling’s embody Billie Jo Spears’ nation chart-topper and worldwide hit of 1975, “Blanket On The Ground,” and the later Rogers hit “Coward Of The County.” Bynum additionally wrote Jim Reeves’ posthumous 1970 nation prime tenner “Nobody’s Fool,” Patty Loveless’ 1990 No.1 in that format, “Chains,” and plenty of others. He died in June 2022 on the age of 87.
On the time their “Lucille” crossed his path, Rogers was within the early levels of reshaping a profession that had waned after his nice success with the First Version within the late Sixties. He had had three nation chart appearances in 1975 and 1976 together with the High 20 entries “Love Lifted Me” and “Laura (What’s He Got That I Ain’t Got?),” the second a canopy of Leon Ashley’s 1967 No.1. However this traditionally-flavored story music blew his solo profession broad open.
A great afternoon’s work
On August 5, 1976, Rogers went into American Studio in Nashville and recorded “Lucille” in a day. It proved to be time very nicely spent. The next January, the music was launched because the follow-up to that “Laura” single, from his self-titled album of 1977. It entered the nation charts on the finish of that month, and by early April, it was beginning a two-week run on the summit.
By then, the only was breaking past its nation boundaries, coming into the Scorching 100 in late March and climbing to No.5. In late April, “Lucille” started a UK run that took it to No.1 there in mid-June, because it hit the High 10 in all places from Australia to Switzerland. Rogers was nicely on his solution to turning into certainly one of nation’s new superstars.
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