Rodgers had a brief run of mainstream popularity in the late 1950s with a string of crossover singles that ranked highly on the Billboard Pop Singles, Hot Country and Western Sides and Hot Rhythm and Blues Sides charts; in the 1960s, Rodgers had more modest successes with
adult contemporary music.
In the summer of 1957, he recorded a song called "
Honeycomb", which had been recorded by Bob Merrill and Georgie Shaw three years earlier. The tune was Rodgers' biggest hit, staying on the top of the charts for four weeks. The following year, he had a number of other hits that reached the Top 10 on the charts: "
Kisses Sweeter than Wine", "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling in Love Again", "Secretly", and "Are You Really Mine". Other hits include "Bo Diddley", "Bimbombey", "Ring-a-ling-a-lario", "Tucumcari," "Tender Love and Care (T.L.C)", and a version of
Waltzing Matilda as a film tie-in with the apocalyptic movie
On the Beach.
In the United Kingdom, "Honeycomb" reached Number 30 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1957, but "Kisses Sweeter than Wine" climbed to Number 7 the following month.
In 1958, he appeared on NBC's The Gisele MacKenzie Show. Also in 1958 he sang the opening theme song of the movie
The Long, Hot Summer, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward and Orson Welles. He then had his own short-lived televised variety show on NBC.
He is not related to the earlier country singer of the same name, who coincidentally died the same year the younger Rodgers was born. Among country audiences, the younger Rodgers is often known as Jimmie F. Rodgers to differentiate the two.
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