Kenny Rogers.
(Image credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for T.J. Martell)

Country music star Kenny Rogers died Friday night from natural causes, his family said in a statement early Saturday. He was 81.

Rogers' career spanned six decades and included 24 number-one hits, such as "The Gambler," and more than 50 million albums sold in the United States alone. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Two years later he announced his farewell tour, with his last performances taking place in 2017 before his health began to take a toll.

"Kenny Rogers left an indelible mark on the history of American music," his publicist Keith Hagan said in a statement. "His songs have endeared music lovers and touched the lives of millions around the world." Read more at CNN and Fox News.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.