By Jerry Fink

Thu, Jun 22, 2006 (7:12 a.m.)

Kenny Rogers seems to have been around forever.

The 67-year-old singer is still creating hit records more than 50 years after he turned to music to escape the poverty of his childhood in Houston.

His latest CD, "Water and Bridges," debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard's Top Country Albums in March, and the single "I Can't Unlove You" is still the No. 17 country song after 29 weeks on the Billboard chart.

Rogers began his career as a 17-year-old doo-wop singer with the Scholars in 1955. Three years later, he turned to jazz, joining the Bobby Doyle Trio as lead singer. His first taste of pop success came as a member of the New Christy Minstrels and the First Edition, which had a hit with "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town."

He struck out on his own in the mid 1970s. Since then he has had more than 60 hit singles, including "Love Lifted Me," "The Gambler" and "Lucille." His No. 1 hits include "Lady," "Coward of the County," "Islands in the Stream," and "Buy Me a Rose," which was nominated for Song of the Year by the Country Music Association in 2000.

Rogers, who lives near Atlanta, will be performing Friday through Sunday at the Orleans.

In a recent telephone interview, Rogers discussed his remarkable career, but not the face-lift he had last year that somewhat altered his appearance. The procedure made headlines when Rogers expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome, but reporters have been asked not to bring up the subject.

Q Where are you?

I'm in Hot Springs, Ark., getting ready for a performance.

Which venue?

I have no idea, but that's pretty typical of me, not knowing where I'm performing. When I first started dating my wife, Wanda, she thought that was so charming. Then by the next year she couldn't remember where we were, either.

What's the secret to your continued success?

I've always been one of those who thinks, "If you don't do it because you love it, then you won't be around long enough to find success."

First of all, I love what I'm doing. I don't put pressure on myself to be successful. I amaze the people who do feel the pressure.

And secondly, Mike Dungan, president of Capitol Records Nashville, called me and said, "You were such an important part of Capitol's history (1976-83), we would love for you to be part of our future."

So I rejoined Capitol, and they hooked me up with a producer, Dann Huff, who worked with Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and others, and he kind of took me in a different direction with "Water and Bridges." He didn't change me, but he did something different with the music behind me.

It's a little more rock 'n' roll sound, along the lines of Bruce Springsteen or Eric Clapton, but with my organic sound. Simply by changing the sound around my voice, they make the songs come out a little different.

With the success of your latest album, are you working on another?

Not yet. When I first started out in this business you could easily do two albums a year.

But now, every song takes four to six months to run its course - and the last thing you want to do is have an album waiting for very long because changes in tastes are so drastic in a year's time.

How did you get started playing music?

When I was a kid growing up in Apple Springs, Texas, I learned to play the guitar. Dad played the fiddle, and we'd sit out on the front porch and play, a little like (in the movie) "Deliverance."

Although we loved each other, we were a dysfunctional family.

What inspired you to take up music as a profession?

I saw a Ray Charles concert when I was 12. I saw how he made people laugh and sing, and I set it in my mind then to be a musician.

When did your career begin?

Right out of high school. I recorded briefly with a doo-wop group, and then I met a blind piano player who was putting a jazz group together.

Although I played guitar, he wanted me to play bass. He said there was a greater demand for bad bass players than for bad guitar players.

Why do you continue to work so hard?

My mother only had a third-grade education, but she had a phenomenal concept about life. She once told me that Confucius had a saying, "Find a job that you love and you will never work a day in your life."

I'm amazed at how many would collapse under my schedule, but music is what I am - everything else is just what I do.