Kenny Rogers Dead: Luke Bryan Heartbroken Over Death of 'True Country Music Star'
Following the death of country megastar, Kenny Rogers, Luke Bryan is expressing his deepest [...]
Following the death of country megastar, Kenny Rogers, Luke Bryan is expressing his deepest condolences amid the loss and sharing with fans his disbelief. On Saturday night, the American Idol judge took to Instagram to share a snapshot of himself with the country icon, prefacing the caption with "Dear Kenny," in a post that raked up more than 62,000 likes and a thousands of comments.
"Can't believe I ever got to know you," Bryan wrote alongside the photo of Rogers and the then-36-year-old at the 2012 CMT Artists of the Year event. "Your music and movies shaped my life. A true country music superstar." Several of Bryan's fans took to the comments section to share their sincerest sympathies with strings of broken heart emojis, admitting they too were stunned by the news that broke at the start of the weekend.
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"God bless you Luke...God bless Kenny in heaven," another fan wrote alongside a prayer hands emoji and string of hearts, while another chimed in: "I'm so sorry, I am sure you were super close to him. You're forever my true country star, thoughts & prayers for all [Kenny Rogers]."
"Great entertainer, seen hom (sic) a few times in concerts," added another. "Sad."
"Your message is spot on," another fan wrote with a string of heart emojis and claps. "Thank you, Luke and God bless Kenny."
Bryan wasn't the only one who expressed their grief over the loss. On Saturday night, Garth Brooks also expressed his condolences in a heartfelt letter shared to Billboard about the lessons he learned from Rogers — especially after opening for him in the late '80s.
"[He] became one of my heroes," Brooks admitted, after sharing how he opened for him in 1989 thanks to his manager, Bob Doyle. "Just watching how he treated his band, his guys, everybody, they'd all been with him for 100 years. It was like, 'This is how you do it.' I'm really, really thankful that Bob was smart enough to tell me to get on that tour."
Brooks added that there was "no way" you could be around Rogers and not learn something, sharing how he was "one of the most successful artists" on Earth. "If you want to do record sales, look at 'The Gambler' and go, 'Oh, okay, you can sell that many?' Because I think that sold something stupid like 13 or 14 million. It sure showed all of us that country artists can do this as well."
Rogers died on Friday at his home at the age of 81, with his family breaking the news in a statement posted on social media early Saturday morning. His time of death was 10:25 p.m. Friday, with his family by his side. Rogers was "under the care of hospice" in the time leading up to his passing.
Photo credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CMT