Sheena Easton Joins The Line-up For Kenny Rogers Upcoming 'First 50 Years' TV Special!

Just announced! Sheena Easton will be among the guests starring in Kenny Rogers' upcoming TV special, "The First 50 Years," which tapes April 10 at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut.

Also joining Kenny: Smokey Robinson, Tim McGraw, Chris Isaak, Darius Rucker, Billy Currington, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, Alison Krauss, Wynonna Judd and The Oak Ridge Boys. The special will be filmed in high-definition.

As any Sheena follower knows, her 1983 duet with Kenny, a cover of Bob Seger's "We've Got Tonight," was a career saver for Easton, whose late 1982 album, "Madness Money & Music" failed to foster any top 40 hits. After Kenny invited her to join him on the song, it was hastily released in spring 1983 and made a rapid ascent to No. 1 on the country singles chart, reached No. 6 on the pop chart and No. 2 at adult contemporary. (Because of this feat, Sheena, to this day, remains the only artist in history to log top 5 hits on five Billboard charts: the Hot 100, country, AC, dance and R&B). "We've Got Tonight" also hit the U.K. top 30. Kenny appeared later that year as a guest on Sheena Easton's TV special, "Act One" (video below!).

Meanwhile, "We've Got Tonight" became my No. 1 song of 1983, spending 10 weeks at the top of my weekly Taylor Top 40 chart, a record that was never topped over the 20 or so years I engineered my own weekly countdown.

Rogers told The Smoking Nun (okay, not really, it's a press release), “The first 50 years TV show is gonna be awesome; the next 50 years TV show is gonna be a bitch.”