The Gambler and the Bandit - Michael Strickland Remembers Kenny Rogers posted: 27/03/2020
In 1976, Bandit Lites owner Michael T. Strickland saw on stage in Las Vegas a has-been rocker, playing to an almost empty room. It was none other than Kenny Rogers, formerly of The First Edition. In a moment that would forever shape Bandit Lites and the life of Michael Strickland, Kenny struck up a conversation and the two swapped numbers; while Bandit was already a big player in a very small industry, what happened next was a real game changer.
Strickland met with promoter Keith Fowler who saw something in Rogers and stated that he believed Rogers could succeed. Kenny took the 1960's hippie image, refined it, classed it up, and picked songs that were unique. By the end of 1977, Rogers released his self-titled album, and things were starting to happen.
Almost overnight and in the blink of an eye, Kenny released the track Lucille, and life would never be the same for either Kenny Rogers or Michael Strickland. The song zoomed to the top of the country and rock charts worldwide, and Kenny Rogers was born! What followed was huge global chart successes with Daytime Friends, Love or Something Like it, The Gambler, She Believes in Me, You Decorated My Life, Coward of the County, Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer and Lady. In four short years Kenny Rogers became the biggest entertainer in the world as he slayed record charts, radio, television and live shows.
Kenny was a virtual hit machine and the public and the media loved him. Strickland and Bandit Lites were along for the ride, and it was the ride of a lifetime. This company from Kingsport, Tennessee was illuminating the biggest entertainer in the world, and having Kenny Rogers as a client led Bandit quickly to many, many more clients. As Kenny was a cross-over act, Bandit gained rock and country clients at an amazing pace. Kenny was the ultimate selling card, and Bandit exploded.
One day in 1979 at a state fair somewhere in middle America, Kenny gave Strickland some of the best business advice he ever received. Bandit Lites was exploding, and cash was a big need to fuel growth. Strickland worked up a sales pitch for Rogers and made it this faithful day, in the dressing room. After twenty minutes of telling Kenny how wonderful Bandit Lites was, how far it would go, and how valuable it was, Strickland asked Rogers if he would like to buy half of the firm for $100,000.
Rogers rocked back, pulled on his neatly trimmed silver beard and paused. This was the longest moment of silence in Strickland's life.
Michael, is Bandit as good as you say it is? Kenny asked very quietly. Is Bandit as successful as you say it is? Will Bandit be the biggest and the best lighting company one day? Michael, is everything you are telling me true?
Yes sir, Strickland quickly answered.
As quietly as before, Kenny tilted his head slightly to the side and locked eyes with Strickland. If you ever spoke to Kenny, you know the look. He always squinted when he looked at you like this.
Well, Michael, if Bandit is all you say it is, why in hell would you sell me half for only $100,000?
Kenny Rogers, with this single question, had again changed the course of life for Michael Strickland and Bandit Lites. Strickland did not sell half of his dream, and it turned out well in the end. Sitting there Strickland had no plan and no path to the easy cash he so desired, but he also maintained full ownership of a company that would go on to become a world leader and be successful for over 50 years.
This advice was by far the single biggest piece of advice anyone every supplied to Strickland and Bandit Lites, and Kenny Rogers showed he believed in Bandit by cosigning the first ever commercial loan for Bandit Lites, a whopping $100,000.00. Not a lot, but it was to Strickland, and Kenny graciously signed it.
Bandit and Kenny Rogers worked together right up to the end. The Kenny Rogers All In For The Gambler at Bridgestone Arena was an extravaganza on October 25, 2017 that served as a capstone to a phenomenal career. The early years were a very special time for Bandit and Strickland, as Strickland was Kenny's Production Manager and lighting director from 1976 to 1980.
No one knows where Bandit would be today without Kenny. There were even rumors at the time that Kenny owned Bandit, which were never true. Yet that faithful day in 1976 when The Gambler met The Bandit, the world of entertainment was forever changed. There is no doubt that Kenny would have become Kenny, but perhaps, just perhaps, Bandit might never have fully become Bandit Lites as it is known today. For that opportunity, and for that great advice, Strickland says Thank you Kenny Rogers, as well as, I love you and goodbye my friend.
About Bandit Lites, Inc. Bandit Lites is a global leader in the entertainment lighting marketplace. From touring productions to fixed installations, Bandit Lites has a full staff of highly trained professionals to deal with all types of lighting needs. Bandit's global presence will ensure seamless transitions no matter where your next show takes you.
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
The Gambler and the Bandit - Michael Strickland Remembers Kenny Rogers posted: 27/03/2020 
