Kenny Rogers's life and music is being celebrated in the A&E special Biography: Kenny Rogers on Monday, April 13 at 9 p.m. ET.
Dolly Parton and Kenny collaborated on several huge hits together, including "Islands in the Stream" and "You Can't Make Old Friends."
The two met in the 1970s, but swore that their friendship never once turned romantic.
Kenny died on March 20, 2020 at age 81.
Any country fan will tell you that Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton were pure magic together. From duets like "Real Love" and "Islands in the Stream" to "You Can't Make Old Friends," the pair were a match made in music heaven. But while collaborating on hit after hit, it's often been wondered — did the two ever become more than just friends?
According to what Dolly and Kenny told Today back in 2017, it doesn't sound like they ever gave romance a shot over their nearly 50-year friendship.
"First of all, she's hard to look at for me,'' Kenny joked on the morning show while Dolly sat beside him. In response, Dolly jokingly chimed in, "I'm not his type."
Kenny continued: "I'm a believer that tension is better if you keep it than if you satisfy it. And then secondly, she said no to me."
Right away, Dolly jumped in: "Nah. You know what, we were almost like brother and sister. And it would almost be like incest. So we just never went there."
Later on, during their "You Can't Make Old Friends" video, Dolly and Kenny explained that they were "soul partners."
"There was just something about mine and Kenny's chemistry with each other, our friendship, that people really sense what we really feel," Dolly said. "There are different kinds of soul mates, but with Kenny, I just see him and I smile."
Kenny and Dolly's friendship began back in the 1970s when both were in the early days of their careers. It was then that Kenny appeared on Dolly's syndicated TV show after the "9 to 5" artist was struggling to book talent for the program.
"Kenny said 'I'll do it,' and I'll never forget it. He's always been there for me as a friend," Dolly reportedly told the Associated Press in 1990.
From then on, the two began to collaborate and work together more and more. Meanwhile, their individual love lives progressed — by 1977, Kenny had married his fourth wife, Marianne Gordon, and Dolly had been with her husband, Carl Thomas Dean, for 11 years. Kenny divorced Marianne in 1993 and married Wanda Miller four years later; Wanda and Kenny were together until "The Gambler" singer's death on March 20.
Even though both were happily married while working together, the dating rumors followed the artists over the decades. After Kenny's death, Marianne told Closer Weeklythat all the romance hearsay didn't bother her at all while she was married to the country artist.
"I never felt uncomfortable at all. I just knew him so well," she explained to the outlet. "But, it's funny that you say that. We had a tennis pro who traveled with us, Doug Dean asked me too. I told him Kenny said, 'I like her [Dolly] as a friend and we have a great thing on stage. We'd lose it. There is sexual tension and teasing each other and it would screw it up.'"
She added: "He sincerely felt they had a cute thing going, and if any happened between them, they'd ruin that."
The day after Kenny's death, Dolly made it clear just how much she will miss her dear friend and singing partner.
"I know that we all know Kenny is in a better place than we are today, but I'm for sure, he's going to be talking to God sometime today if he ain't already. He's going to be asking him to spread some light on a bunch of this darkness going on here," Dolly said in video posted on her social media pages.
"I loved Kenny with all my heart. My heart's broken and a whole chunk of it has gone with him today. And I think, I can speak for all his family, friends, and fans when I say that I will always love you."
