Barry Manilow and Glen Campbell Passed on What Became a Big Crossover Hit for Kenny Rogers

In 1982, Kenny Rogers had a big hit with “Through The Years”. On his Share Your Love record, “Through The Years” is written by Steve Dorff and Marty Panzer.  One of the biggest hits of his career, Rogers had a No. 1 pop hit with the song, which also became a Top 5 country single as well. 

The romantic tune, about enduring love, says, “Through the years / You’ve never let me down / You’ve turned my life around / The sweetest days I’ve found / I’ve found with you / Through the years / I’ve never been afraid / I’ve loved the life we’ve made / And I’m so glad I’ve stayed / Right here with you / Through the years.”

Although the song seems perfect for Rogers, he wasn’t the first artist to be pitched the song. Before the songwriters gave the song to Rogers, they pitched it to a few other artists first.

“Barry Manilow and Mac Davis passed on it,” Dorff tells Songfacts. “Glen Campbell passed on it. Those were the notable ones. Lionel Richie had heard the song and loved it and played it for his people, and that’s how it happened. I got a phone call from Gene Page, that great arranger, who called me and said, ‘Congratulations! We just cut your song with Kenny Rogers, and it sounds amazing.’”

How Kenny Rogers Became the Artist To Record “Through the Years”

“Through The Years” became a song that Rogers continued to play in his live shows for the remainder of his career. Rogers, the songwriters, and country music fans all have Richie to thank for Rogers recording the song. It’s Richie who produced Share Your Love and convinced Rogers to record the song, although he almost cut it himself instead.

“Lionel Richie had heard the song from the president, Jim Mazza, of then Liberty Records,” Dorff tells The Tennessean. “And Lionel loved the song and wanted to cut it. He was also producing Kenny Rogers. They had just come off ‘Lady’, which was arguably one of the biggest monster hits of that year. Kenny was arguably one of the biggest artists on the planet.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Rogers also initially passed on the song. He later decided to record it after Richie told him he wanted it for his own album.

“Mazza tells me that he pitched the song to Kenny and Kenny passed,” Dorff recounts. “Lionel told me that they were having a song meeting, and Kenny was not digging anything that they were being played that day. And Lionel said, ‘Let me play something that I’m gonna record. And if you like it, at least I’ll have a better direction of where to go.’”

Interestingly, Rogers’ then-wife, Marianne Gordon, heard the song during the meeting and told her husband to record it. The couple divorced in 1993.

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