THE GAMBLER ~ KENNY ROGERS

"The Gambler" is the title of a song written by Don Schlitz and recorded by Kenny Rogers. It was released in November 1978 as the title track from his album The Gambler which won him the Grammy award for best male country vocal performance in 1980. Bobby Bare had recorded the song earlier that same year in his album BARE CBS KC35314 (1978). The song was written by Schlitz who had recorded it previously, and had charted at #65 on the country charts with it. It was one of five consecutive songs by Rogers to hit #1 on the Billboard country music charts. On the pop chart, the song made #16 in early 1979. It is the theme song used for Rogers' long running TV movie serial of the same name, in which he stars as a fictional professional poker player called Brady Hawkes. It was used in Episode 2 of BBC series Blackpool and in Episode 4 of the sixth season of the series Supernatural. It is also a favored song (and frequently sung by) Hank Hill of the animated series King of the Hill. Alvin and the Chipmunks covered this song with minor lyric changes for their 1981 album Urban Chipmunk.