Kenny Rogers' close friends, family and band members gathered at Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday (March 20th) to pay their respects to the singer who died two years ago to the day. Until then, a celebration of his life was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The outdoor ceremony was hosted by long time touring partners Linda Davis and Billy Dean, with over fifteen speakers paying homage to Kenny and telling personal stories about a life well lived. The ceremony concluded with the Dr. T. Lynn Smith and Friendsgospel choir singing “Amazing Grace” along with a pre-recorded Kenny Rogers vocal and a performance of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken,” one of the late singer's favorites. As the guests filed out, the event concluded with an Irish sendoff by Brigadier General (Ret.) Richard McPhee.
At the reception that immediately followed, there was a special surprise. A brand new lyric video for Kenny's song “Goodbye,” written by Lionel Richie, was debuted for the first time ever to the invited guests. Yesterday (Monday, March 21st), Lionel shared the video on social media writing, Two years ago this week, we lost my dear friend, @_KennyRogers. Today a beautiful lyric video has been released for a song that I wrote for Kenny, “Goodbye”, to celebrate his memory.”
Kenny died at the age of 81 on March 20, 2020 at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia.