Billboard #1 Hits: #494: ‘Lady’- Kenny Rogers. November 15, 1980. 5 weeks at #1 in Billboard Hot 100.

• Single: ‘Lady’- Kenny Rogers
• Record Company- Liberty
• Genre: Pop
• Written by Lionel Richie
• Time: 3:54
• B-side:’Sweet Music Man’
• Album- Greatest Hits
• Grade: C
• Peaked at #1 6 weeks in Billboard Hot 100. #12 in UK Singles Chart

“The idea was that Lionel would come from R&B and I’d come from country, and we’d meet somewhere in pop.”-Kenny Rogers. I am shocked to see this was #1 for 6 weeks. Maybe it was the era- and the combination of a red hot songwriter at the time in Lionel Richie- and Kenny Rogers- who in the late 70’s- early 80’s was very popular for some reason I still can’t figure out- put them together and you have had this huge hit. Richie had originally pitched the song to The Commodores but they turned it down. I give it a gentleman’s C but I really don’t hear anything in this song that is special. Go figure. It was the only solo #1 by Rogers in his career- his other #1 came as a duet with Miss Dolly Parton ‘Islands In The Stream.”