Kenny Rogers, the photographer: Items from the singer's estate are up for auction this weekend

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This May 17, 1989 file photo shows Kenny Rogers posing for a portrait in Los Angeles.

Credit: AP Photo/Bob Galbraith, File

More than 1,200 items from the estate of country and pop music icon Kenny Rogers are up for auction this weekend, including some from his home in Sandy Springs, Ga.

The late singer and songwriter was known for hits like “Lucille,” “The Gambler,” and “Islands in the Stream” with Dolly Parton.

Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien’s Auctions, has been curating the collection for over a year. He says his aim was to give a sense of Rogers’ life.

“These are the items he lived with," said Nolan. "He passed away, sadly, in March of 2020. And you try to protect and give people a sense of what it was really like behind those doors of Kenny Rogers.”

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A framed group of signed soloist leadsheets from the charity single "We Are the World" performed by the supergroup USA for Africa. It is estimated to sell for $20,000-$40,000 this weekend in an auction of the estate of Kenny Rogers.

Credit: Courtesy of Julien's Auctions

Items include signed soloist leadsheets from the 1985 charity single “We are the World” that hung in Rogers’ dining room, as well as a collection of celebrity portraits that Rogers photographed himself.

“Kenny Rogers went to their homes, knocked on their door, showed up with his camera and his lighting equipment and took very intimate portrait photographs of them,” Nolan said.

Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Bob Hope and Lucille Ball were among them, Nolan said.

Some of Rogers' camera equipment is also in the auction.

“And that’s part of the story, part of the history," Nolan said. "And that’s what this auction is about."

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An original photographic portrait of Lucille Ball taken by Kenny Rogers that is additionally signed by Lucille Ball, "Dear Kenny, Loved doing this with you-/ Lucy." It is estimated to sell for $2,000-$3,000 this weekend in an auction of the estate of Kenny Rogers.

Credit: Courtesy of Julien's Auctions

The auction is being held Friday, Oct. 21 through Sunday, Oct. 23 in Beverly Hills, Calif., and online.

A portion of the proceeds will go to Music Health Alliance, a nonprofit that provides health care advocacy in the music industry.