Kenny Rogers touches down in Chch

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 1

Kenny Rogers touches down in Chch

Kenny Rogers, the country music superstar, travels in style.

He flew into Christchurch yesterday in his own DC9 (pictured behind him). With him were his fourth wife, Marianne, his son, Christopher Cody, aged two, his personal tennis coach, Kelly Junkerman, and Mrs Junkerman.

A cluster of fans greeted him on the tarmac outside the United States Navy base and he rewarded their loyalty by signing the autograph books and pieces of paper thrust at him.

Mr Rogers looked confident and relaxed on arrival and well he might. At 45 years of age and after more than two decades in the business, his career seems to be surging from strength to strength. He has just completed his first tour of Australia and it did better than sell out. To cater to demand he played four extra concerts and pulled crowds totalling 130,000 — 50,000 more than had been expected. “I thought it went very well,” he said yesterday, “I was concerned before I went, never having been there before.” Kenny Rogers likes to know the countries he visits and particularly to understand the national definition of what is funny and what is not because he “tries to inject something personal” into his shows.

Mostly he does this by projecting home movies on to a vast screen and peppering his between-song patter with jokes and quips. Although only five people accompanied him on his private jet yesterday, the man reputed to be one of the world’s highest paid performers is travelling with a 41-member entourage. They are coming on commercial flights.

Kenny Rogers, born poor and now a multi-millionaire, will play at Queen Elizabeth II Park this evening then in Wellington and Auckland. The tour is likely to be the most lucrative New Zealand has seen.

But on the tarmac yesterday he had bad news for Christchurch fans. One woman, a kindergarten teacher, offered to be nanny to Mr Rogers’ small son next time he visits here but was told that by then he would be at school.

Mrs Rogers said that Christopher Cody, although obviously tired after his trip and wanting a nap, was “having a great time” and adjusting well to life on the road.