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Kenny Rogers

Kenny Rogers, Larry King/CNN interview (June 25, 2009)

Larry King: You were saying, Kenny, about Michael and what it meant to you.

Kenny Rogers: Well, I was just saying that Smokey and I were talking in the commercial break and we were trying to find something to laugh about. You know, just to get you through with some sense of sanity.

And I did a show tonight. I found out just before I went on the show. And I have to tell you, it impacted me so heavily in my show because it's hard to go out and do what I do and know that this has happened...

I did a book called "Your Friends and Mine." It's a photography book. And I called him, I said, Michael, I'm promise you you'll only be here 15 minutes. He said, “I'm coming, and I'm bringing Bubbles with me.” And he was there for eight hours. He stayed there and wanted to chat and talk. And we took pictures.

I think I took the first picture of him with his head off. Because he said, I want to see what this looks like. So -- it's just -- he was just such a special guy. You know? And you don't meet guys who have that kind of success that really are able to communicate at a different level. And that's a success I would not wish on anybody.

KING: Kenny, as a success -- you're a country artist. How did you view him artistically?

ROGERS: Well, I mean, how do you view anybody that's had that kind -- first of all, you start off envying and then you're just thankful you don't have to go through what he went through. I mean that would have been treacherous for anybody. And so I loved his music.

I thought that between he and Quincy Jones, they started a whole new -- they literally revolutionized the music business, literally. And there are very few people that represent certain eras of music. He definitely was one of them.