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Lionel Richie

 
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Lionel Richie, Pop Musician

Lionel Richie
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  • Born: 20 June 1949
  • Birthplace: Tuskegee, Alabama
  • Best Known As: Singer of the pop hit "All Night Long"

Lionel Richie spent more than a decade as a saxophonist and lead singer with The Commodores, a funk-pop group formed in 1968. Richie grew to become the band's most famous face, a silky crooner and ladies' man who penned ripe ballads like "Easy," "Sail On" and "Three Times a Lady." Richie split the band in 1982 and became an even greater success as a solo act, hitting #1 on the pop charts with singles like "Hello" and "All Night Long," and "Say You, Say Me." He also co-wrote, with Michael Jackson, the USA for Africa benefit tune "We Are the World," which was recorded by an all-star cast of popular singers and became a giant hit. His albums include Lionel Richie (1982), Can't Slow Down (1983), Dancing on the Ceiling (1985) and Louder Than Words (1996).

Richie's daughter Nicole Richie co-starred with her friend Paris Hilton in the 2003 reality show The Simple Life... "Endless Love," Lionel Richie's 1981 duet with Diana Ross on the theme from the film of the same name, became Motown's best-selling single of all time... Richie wrote the 1980 Kenny Rogers hit "Lady"... Richie's grandfather worked at the Tuskegee Institute with famed black educator Booker T. Washington.

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pop singer; songwriter

Personal Information

Born Lionel B. Richie, Jr., on June 20, 1949, in Tuskegee, AL; son of Lionel Richie Sr., a systems analyst, and Alberta Richie, an educator; married Brenda Harvey, a musical production assistant, 1975 (divorced); one daughter, Nicole; married, Diane Alexander, a clothing designer, 1996; one son, Miles, and one daughter, Sofia.
Education: Graduated from Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, AL, 1974.

Career

Vocalist and songwriter. Joined group the Commodores while in college; group signed to Motown Records, early 1970s; released debut recording Machine Gun, 1974; recorded platinum-selling ballad "Three Times a Lady," 1978; numerous other hits with Commodores, 1970s; began solo production work and composition for other artists, late 1970s; released solo debut album on Motown, Lionel Richie, 1982; four top-selling solo albums for Motown; cocomposed and recorded "We Are the World" African famine relief recording, 1985; released Louder than Words album on Mercury label, 1996; released Time album, 1998.

Life's Work

The ballads written and sung by Lionel Richie, both as part of the group the Commodores and during an impressive solo career, formed a soundtrack for countless American romances in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Richie achieved a string of successes matched by few other popular songwriters, with his compositions rising to the Number One position on the U.S. pop singles chart at least once in every year between 1977 and 1985. The most successful interpreter of Richie's songs was Richie himself, and for a quarter century the quintessential romantic balladeer has touched Americans of all races and all walks of life.

Richie's musical personality was formed at one of African America's crucial intellectual sites: Alabama's Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University). He was born on June 20, 1949, and his childhood home was actually on the school's campus, where his father, a U.S. Army systems analyst, lived with his mother, an educator who later became a school principal. Richie's musical education drew on the diverse sonic streams that passed through Tuskegee. His maternal grandmother favored classical music and reacted coolly to her grandson's first forays into pop songwriting. Northern black pop and southern soul found their ways to Tuskegee. Hoping at one point to become an Episcopal minister, Richie gravitated toward gospel music. He was also influenced by another tradition whose reach among African Americans is sometimes underestimated: "Because it was the South, it was hard not to hear country music," he was quoted as saying in the Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul.

Joined Group at Tuskegee

Enrolling at Tuskegee himself, Richie joined forces with a group of other students he met at a talent show; the attraction for the others was that Richie owned a saxophone. Richie, for his own part, was successful in concealing the fact that he barely knew how to play it. A gifted musician who had taught himself to play the piano by ear, Richie made rapid strides as a performer and composer at Tuskegee. The group, first called the Mystics, became the Commodores after the word was picked at random out of a dictionary. Richie discarded his religious ambitions in favor of courses in economics and accounting that proved ideal training for a career in the financially cutthroat music business.

The Commodores struggled for a time, gaining fans across Alabama but losing all their equipment to van thieves on a 1969 trip to New York. But they bounced back, landing a series of club appearances and signing on with a manager, Benny Ashburn, who would stay with them until his death during Richie's years of solo stardom. Signing briefly to the Atlantic record label they went nowhere, but when they attracted the attention of Motown Records executive Suzanne de Passe in 1971, they gained wide exposure when she slated them as the opening act for many of the tours of that label's brother-act dynamo, the Jackson Five.

Group Moved Toward Ballad Releases

The heavy funk sound of the Commodores did not fit the polished, smoothed Motown mold, however, and the group's first record for the label, Machine Gun, was not released until 1974. That album and successors performed solidly, and the group broke through to the pop Top Ten with the ballad "Sweet Love" in 1976. That song, a Richie composition, also marked a new direction musically for the group. Although earlier singles such as 1975's "Slippery When Wet" had been primarily dance-oriented, the group came to believe that the secret to long-lasting success lay in the cultivation of romantic balladry. "Sweet Love" proved only the first of a series of romantic numbers from Richie's pen: "Just to Be Close to You" and "Easy" rose into the pop Top Ten.

Most successful of all was 1978's "Three Times a Lady," whose waltz tempo perhaps showed the influence of the country music Richie had heard as a young man. That song, a feature of weddings for years to come, achieved platinum status for sales of one million copies, as did the album, Natural High, from which it was taken. The song propelled the Commodores and the increasingly dominant Richie to national stardom. The Commodores enjoyed a string of hits between 1978 and 1981, and no ill will arose between the group members. But Richie found himself in demand for his own creative talents alone. He wrote and produced "Lady" for pop superstar Kenny Rogers in 1980, and followed it up with "Endless Love," a duet he recorded with Diana Ross. These songs remained atop the U.S. pop charts for six and nine weeks respectively.

Whether recorded with the Commodores, by other artists, or on his own, Richie's ballads were instantly identifiable. Simple and seemingly inevitable in their gentle progressions, they hide Richie's considerable craft as a songwriter. For his own part, Richie credited God as his "co-composer" in an interview with Ebony writer Robert E. Johnson quoted in Contemporary Musicians. Richie played to his strengths on his debut solo album, Lionel Richie, which was released in 1982. Its hit singles "Truly" and "You Are" closely followed the style of the Commodores' chart successes.

Composed "We Are the World"

Richie's second and third solo albums, 1983's Can't Slow Down and 1986's Dancing on the Ceiling, broadened his reach. "All Night Long," the lead single from Can't Slow Down, was an upbeat, tropical-flavored dance piece that resembled none of the leading R&B, disco, and funk dance styles of the time. These albums were among the biggest successes of the 1980s, and Can't Slow Down was claimed to be the best-selling release in the history of the Motown label. Gaining Richie even more acclaim and publicity than any of his solo efforts, though, was the all-star recording "We Are the World," which he cocomposed with fellow pop superstar Michael Jackson and recorded with an all-star lineup of artists. Profits from sales and performances of the song went toward African famine relief.

By the late 1980s, Richie had few worlds left to conquer. He continued to enter into collaborative efforts, winning an Academy Award for Best Song and notching yet another Number One single for the song "Say You, Say Me" from the film White Nights. He tapped the country vein yet again in a recording he composed for and performed with the country group Alabama, "Deep River Woman." In 1992, Richie released the Back to Front greatest-hits package; it included "Do It to Me," a new song that once again topped the charts. Richie moved to the Mercury label in the 1990s, releasing the modestly successful Louder Than Words (1996) and Time (1998); these discs largely avoided any updating of Richie's sound with contemporary hip-hop influences. In the year 2000 Richie raised his profile somewhat when he appeared as the opening act on the farewell tour of soul superstar Tina Turner, and planned a new release, Renaissance, that featured the teen-oriented Backstreet Boys.

Awards

Selected Awards: Three platinum albums; four gold albums; 18 Grammy nominations and four awards; 12 American Music Awards; five People's Choice Awards for Best Song; numerous other industry awards; Academy Award, "Say You, Say Me", 1986; honorary doctorate, Tuskegee University, 1986.

Works

Selected discography

  • Lionel Richie, Motown, 1982.
  • Can't Slow Down, Motown, 1983.
  • Dancing on the Ceiling, Motown, 1986.
  • Back to Front, Motown, 1992.
  • Louder than Words, Mercury, 1996.
  • Time, Mercury, 1998.
  • Renaissance, 2000.

Further Reading

Books

  • Contemporary Musicians, volume 2, Gale, 1990.
  • Larkin, Colin, ed., The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK, 1998.
  • Romanowski, Patricia, and Holly George-Warren, The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, Fireside, 1995.
  • Stambler, Irwin, The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul, St. Martin's, 1989.
Periodicals
  • Entertainment Weekly, April 21, 2000, p. 75.
  • Jet, August 30, 1999, p. 32.
  • People, July 20, 1998, p. 39.

— James M. Manheim

Gale Musician Profiles:

Lionel Richie

Top

Singer, songwriter



The ballads written and sung by Lionel Richie, both as part of the group the Commodores and during an impressive solo career, have formed a soundtrack for countless American romances from the 1970s on. Richie achieved a string of successes matched by few other popular songwriters, with his compositions rising to the number one position on the American pop singles chart at least once in every year between 1977 and 1985. After a recording hiatus of ten years, Richie returned to the national spotlight in the late 1990s with Louder than Words, and was still going strong into the 2000s. The most successful interpreter of Richie's songs is Richie himself, and for a quarter century the quintessential romantic balladeer has touched Americans of all races and all walks of life.

Richie's musical personality was formed at one of African America's crucial intellectual sites: Alabama's Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University). He was born on June 20, 1949, and his childhood home was actually on the school's campus, where his father, a U.S. Army systems analyst, lived with his mother, an educator who later became a school principal. Richie's musical education drew on the diverse sonic streams that passed through Tuskegee. His maternal grandmother favored classical music and reacted coolly to her grandson's first forays into pop songwriting. Northern black pop and southern soul found their ways to Tuskegee. Hoping at one point to become an Episcopal minister, Richie gravitated toward gospel music. He was also influenced by another tradition whose reach among African Americans is sometimes underestimated: "Because it was the South, it was hard not to hear country music," he was quoted as saying in the Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul.

Joined Group at Tuskegee
Enrolling at Tuskegee himself, Richie joined forces with a group of other students he met at a talent show; the attraction for the others was that Richie owned a saxophone. Richie, for his own part, was successful in concealing the fact that he barely knew how to play it. A gifted musician who had taught himself to play the piano by ear, Richie made rapid strides as a performer and composer at Tuskegee. The group, first called the Mystics, became the Commodores after the word was picked at random out of a dictionary. Richie discarded his religious ambitions in favor of courses in economics and accounting that proved ideal training for a career in the financially cutthroat music business.

The Commodores struggled for a time, gaining fans across Alabama but losing all their equipment to van thieves on a 1969 trip to New York. But they bounced back, landing a series of club appearances and signing on with a manager, Benny Ashburn, who would stay with them until his death during Richie's years of solo stardom. Signing briefly to the Atlantic record label they went nowhere, but when they attracted the attention of Motown Records executive Suzanne de Passe in 1971, they gained wide exposure when she slated them as the opening act for many of the tours of that label's brother-act dynamo, the Jackson Five.

Group Moved Toward Ballad Releases
The heavy funk sound of the Commodores did not fit the polished, smoothed Motown mold, however, and the group's first record for the label, Machine Gun, was not released until 1974. That album and successors performed solidly, and the group broke through to the pop Top Ten with the ballad "Sweet Love" in 1976. That song, a Richie composition, also marked a new direction musically for the group. Although earlier singles such as 1975's "Slippery When Wet" had been primarily dance-oriented, the group came to believe that the secret to long-lasting success lay in the cultivation of romantic balladry. "Sweet Love" proved only the first of a series of romantic numbers from Richie's pen: "Just to Be Close to You" and "Easy" rose into the pop Top Ten.

Most successful of all was 1978's "Three Times a Lady," whose waltz tempo perhaps showed the influence of the country music Richie had heard as a young man. That song, a feature of weddings for years to come, achieved platinum status for sales of one million copies, as did the album, Natural High, from which it was taken. The song propelled the Commodores and the increasingly dominant Richie to national stardom. The Commodores enjoyed a string of hits between 1978 and 1981, and no ill will arose between the group members. But Richie found himself in demand for his own creative talents alone. He wrote and produced "Lady" for pop superstar Kenny Rogers in 1980, and followed it up with "Endless Love," a duet he recorded with Diana Ross. These songs remained atop the American pop charts for six and nine weeks respectively.

Whether recorded with the Commodores, by other artists, or on his own, Richie's ballads were instantly identifiable. Simple and seemingly inevitable in their gentle progressions, they deemphasize Richie's considerable craft as a songwriter. For his own part, Richie credited God as his "co-composer" in an interview with Ebony writer Robert E. Johnson quoted in Contemporary Musicians. Richie played to his strengths on his debut solo album, Lionel Richie, which was released in 1982. Its hit singles "Truly" and "You Are" closely followed the style of the Commodores' chart successes.

Composed "We Are the World"
Richie's second and third solo albums, 1983's Can't Slow Down and 1986's Dancing on the Ceiling, broadened his reach. "All Night Long," the lead single from "Can't Slow Down," was an upbeat, tropical-flavored dance piece that resembled none of the leading R&B, disco, and funk dance styles of the time. These albums were among the biggest successes of the 1980s, and Can't Slow Down was claimed to be the best-selling release in the history of the Motown label. Gaining Richie even more acclaim and publicity than any of his solo efforts, though, was the all-star recording "We Are the World," which he co-composed with fellow pop superstar Michael Jackson and recorded with an all-star lineup of artists. Profits from sales and performances of the song went toward African famine relief. By the late 1980s, Richie had few worlds left to conquer. He continued to enter into collaborative efforts, winning an Academy Award for Best Song and notching yet another Number One single for the song "Say You, Say Me" from the film White Nights. He tapped the country vein yet again in a recording he composed for and performed with the country group Alabama, "Deep River Woman."

In 1992, Richie released the Back to Front greatest-hits package; it included "Do It to Me," a new song that once again topped the charts. Richie moved to the Mercury label in the 1990s, and after a long break from recording, released the modestly successful Louder Than Words (1996) and Time (1998); these discs largely avoided any updating of Richie's sound with contemporary hip-hop influences.

In the year 2000 Richie raised his profile somewhat when he appeared as the opening act on the farewell tour of soul superstar Tina Turner, and penned a new release, 2001's Renaissance, that featured the teen-oriented Backstreet Boys. Richie also found himself in the spotlight in 2003 and 2004 when his daughter, Nicole, starred in the reality television show Simple Life with hotel heiress Paris Hilton. Richie followed his 2001 album Renaissance with a great hits set, The Definitive Collection, in 2003, and in 2004 with Just for You. All Music Guide deemed Just for You one of his better albums of late, calling it "assured and unassuming, relaxed and tuneful."

Selected discography

Solo albums
Lionel Richie, Motown, 1982.
Slow Down, Motown, 1983.
Dancing on the Ceiling, Motown, 1986.
Back to Front, Motown, 1992.
Louder than Words, Mercury, 1996.
Time, Mercury, 1998.
Renaissance, Island, 2001.
The Definitive Collection, Universal, 2003.
Just for You, Island, 2004.

With the Commodores
Machine Gun, Motown, 1974.
Caught in the Act, Motown, 1975.
Movin' On, Motown, 1975.
Hot on the Tracks, Motown, 1976.
Commodores, Motown, 1977.
Commodores Live!, Polygram, 1977.
Natural High, Motown, 1978.
Midnight Magic, Motown, 1979.

Sources
Books
Larkin, Colin, editor, The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK, 1998.
Romanowski, Patricia, and Holly George-Warren, The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll, Fireside, 1995.
Stambler, Irwin, The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul, St. Martin's, 1989.

Periodicals
Entertainment Weekly, April 21, 2000, p. 75.
Jet, August 30, 1999, p. 32; June 21, 2004, p. 56.
People, July 20, 1998, p. 39.

Online
"The Commodores," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com">http://www.allmusic.com (July 10, 2004).
"Lionel Richie," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com">http://www.allmusic.com (July 8, 2004).
  • Genres: Rhythm & Blues

Biography

After leaving the Commodores, Lionel Richie became one of the most successful male solo artists of the '80s, arguably eclipsed during his 1981-1987 heyday only by Michael Jackson and Prince. Richie dominated the pop charts during that period with an incredible run of 13 consecutive Top Ten hits, five of them number ones. As his popularity skyrocketed, Richie moved farther away from his R&B origins and concentrated more on adult contemporary balladry, which had been one of his strengths even as part of the Commodores. After 1987, Richie fell silent, taking an extended break from recording and touring before beginning a comeback toward the tail end of the '90s.

Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr., was born on June 20, 1949, in Tuskegee, AL, and grew up on the campus of the Tuskegee Institute, where most of his family had worked for two generations prior. While attending college there, Richie joined the Commodores, who went on to become the most successful act on the Motown label during the latter half of the '70s. Richie served as a saxophonist, sometime vocalist, and songwriter, penning ballads like "Easy," "Three Times a Lady," and "Still" (the latter two became the group's only number one pop hits). Although the Commodores maintained a democratic band structure through most of their chart run, things began to change when the '70s became the '80s. In 1980, Richie wrote and produced country-pop singer Kenny Rogers' across-the-board number one smash "Lady," and the following year, Richie's duet with Diana Ross, "Endless Love" (recorded for the Brooke Shields film of the same title), became the most successful single in Motown history, topping the charts for a stunning nine weeks. With the media's attention now focused exclusively on Richie, tensions within the Commodores began to mount, and before the end of 1981, Richie decided to embark on a solo career.

Richie immediately set about recording his solo debut for Motown. Titled simply Lionel Richie, the album was released in late 1982 and was an immediate smash, reaching number three on the pop charts on its way to sales of over four million copies. It spun off three Top Five pop hits, including the first single, "Truly," which became Richie's first solo number one. If Lionel Richie made its creator a star, the follow-up, Can't Slow Down, made him a superstar. Boasting five Top Ten singles, including the number ones "All Night Long (All Night)" and "Hello," Can't Slow Down hit number one, eventually sold over ten million copies, and won the 1984 Grammy for Album of the Year. Such was Richie's stature that he was invited to perform at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, a spectacular stage event that was broadcast worldwide.

In 1985, Richie put his superstar status to work for a greater good, joining Michael Jackson in co-writing the USA for Africa charity single "We Are the World"; the all-star recording helped raise millions of dollars for famine relief. By the end of the year, he was on top of the charts again with "Say You, Say Me," a ballad recorded for the film White Nights but not included on the soundtrack album. The song was slated to be the title track on Richie's upcoming album, but delays in the recording process prevented the record from being released until August 1986, by which time the title was changed to Dancing on the Ceiling (in order to promote Richie's next single release). Three more Top Tens followed "Say You, Say Me," as did "Se La," which became the first of Richie's solo singles not to reach the pop Top Ten. Overall, Dancing on the Ceiling didn't match the success of Can't Slow Down, but it still sold an impressive four million copies, although Richie's reputation for sentimental ballads was beginning to incur a backlash in some quarters.

1987 saw Richie's nine-year streak of writing at least one number one single (a feat matched only by Irving Berlin) come to an end. As a matter of fact, Richie all but disappeared from the music business, simply choosing to take some time off after nearly two decades of recording and performing (or, perhaps, quitting while he was ahead). His silence was broken only in 1992, when Motown released a compilation titled Back to Front; in addition to some of his solo hits and a few Commodores tracks, Back to Front also featured three new songs, including the number one R&B hit "Do It to Me" (which wasn't as successful on the pop charts).

Richie wasn't bitten by the recording bug again until 1996, by which time he'd endured his share of personal loss: his father had passed away, and his marriage to wife Brenda -- the muse behind some of his most successful ballads -- had fallen apart. In approaching his comeback, Richie attempted to update his sound to reflect a decade's worth of developments in urban R&B. The result, Louder Than Words, was a moderate success, reaching the Top 30 and going gold. However, it didn't produce any major hit singles, and Richie's nods to new jack swing and hip-hop were criticized as awkward. 1998's Time found Richie in a more familiar element, relying on his signature sound with only slight musical updates. However, the album flopped, spending only a few weeks in the lower reaches of the charts. Richie's next album, Renaissance, was released to a favorable reception in Europe in late 2000; it was issued in the U.S. in early 2001. Three years later, on the heels of enduring a very public and bitter divorce with his second wife, Diane, Richie released Just for You. The 2006 album Coming Home found him working with an all-star cast of collaborators including Jermaine Dupri, Raphael Saadiq, Sean Garrett, and Dallas Austin. Live in Paris followed in 2007. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Lionel Richie

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Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie performing on his sold-out 2011 Australian and New Zealand Concert Tour
Background information
Birth name Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr.
Born June 20, 1949 (1949-06-20) (age 62)
Tuskegee, Alabama,
United States
Genres Soul, R&B, pop, pop rock
Occupations Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer, actor
Instruments Vocals, piano/keyboards, saxophone
Years active 1968–present
Labels Island, MCA, Motown
Associated acts Diana Ross, Commodores, Nicole Richie, Alabama (band), Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Patti Labelle, USA for Africa, Jason Derulo, Natasha Bedingfield
Website lionelrichie.com

Lionel Richie (born June 20, 1949), is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. From 1968, he was a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records. Richie made his solo debut in 1982 with the album Lionel Richie and number-one hit "Truly".

Contents

Early life

Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Richie grew up on the campus of Tuskegee Institute.[1] His grandfather's house was across the street from the home of the president of the college. His family moved to Joliet, Illinois, where he graduated from Joliet Township High School, East Campus. A star tennis player in Joliet, he accepted a tennis scholarship to attend Tuskegee Institute, and graduated with a major in economics. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Tuskegee, Richie briefly attended graduate school at Auburn University. He is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi[2] and Alpha Phi Alpha[3][4] Fraternity.

Career

The Commodores

As a student in Tuskegee, Richie formed a succession of R&B groups in the mid-1960s. In 1968 he became a singer and saxophonist with the Commodores. They signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1968 for one record before moving on to Motown Records initially as a support act to The Jackson 5. The Commodores then became established as a popular soul group. Their first several albums had a danceable, funky sound, as in such tracks as "Machine Gun" and "Brick House." Over time, Richie wrote and sang more romantic, easy-listening ballads such as "Easy," "Three Times a Lady," "Still," and the tragic breakup ballad "Sail On."

By the late 1970s he had begun to accept songwriting commissions from other artists. He composed "Lady" for Kenny Rogers, which hit #1 in 1980, and produced Rogers's album Share Your Love the following year. Richie and Rogers maintained a strong friendship in later years. Latin jazz composer and salsa romantica pioneer La Palabra enjoyed international success with his cover of "Lady," which was played at Latin dance clubs. Also in 1981 Richie sang the theme song for the film Endless Love, a duet with Diana Ross. Issued as a single, the song topped the UK and US pop music charts, and became one of Motown's biggest hits. Its success encouraged Richie to branch out into a full-fledged solo career in 1982. He was replaced as lead singer for The Commodores by Skyler Jett in 1983. His debut album, Lionel Richie, produced another chart-topping single, "Truly," which continued the style of his ballads with the Commodores.

Solo career

Richie performing in March 2011

Richie's 1982 self-titled debut contained three hit singles: the U.S. #1 song "Truly," which launched his career as one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s, and the Top Five hits "You Are" and "My Love." The album hit #3 on the music charts and sold over 4 million copies. His 1983 follow-up album, Can't Slow Down, sold over twice as many copies and won two Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year, propelling him into the first rank of international superstars. The album contained the #1 hit "All Night Long" a Caribbean-flavored dance number that was promoted by a colorful music video produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith.

Several more Top 10 hits followed, the most successful of which was the ballad "Hello" (1984), a sentimental love song that showed how far Richie had moved from his R&B roots. Richie had three more Top Ten hits in 1984, "Stuck on You" (#3), "Running with the Night" (#7) and "Penny Lover" (#8). Now described by one critic as "the black Barry Manilow," in 1985 Richie wrote and performed a suitably soothing theme song, "Say You, Say Me," for the film White Nights, winning an Oscar for his efforts as well as reaching #1 on the U.S. charts and staying there for four weeks, making it the #1 song of 1985 according to Billboard's year-end Hot 100 chart. He also collaborated with Michael Jackson on the charity single "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, another #1 hit.

In 1986, Richie released Dancing on the Ceiling, his last widely popular album, which produced a run of US and UK hits including "Say You, Say Me" (U.S. #1), "Dancing on the Ceiling" (U.S. #2), "Ballerina Girl" (U.S. #7), and "Se La" (U.S. #20), Richie's most recent U.S. Pop Top Twenty hit. The title selection was accompanied by a video directed by Stanley Donen, which drew inspiration from Royal Wedding,[citation needed] a 1951 Fred Astaire film Donen had directed. The critical consensus was that this album represented nothing more than a consolidation of his previous work, though Richie's collaboration with the country group Alabama on "Deep River Woman" did break new ground. By 1987, Richie was exhausted from his work schedule and after a controversial year laid low, taking care of his father in Alabama. His father, Lionel Sr., died in 1990. Richie made his return to recording and performing following the release of his first greatest-hits collection, Back to Front, in 1992.

Since then, his ever-more-relaxed schedule has kept his recording and live work to a minimum. He broke the silence in 1996 with Louder Than Words, on which he resisted any change of style or the musical fashion-hopping of the past decade, sticking instead with his chosen path of well-crafted soul music, which in the intervening years has become known as Contemporary R&B.

Richie's albums in the 1990s such as Louder Than Words and Time failed to match the commercial success of his earlier work. Some of his recent albums, such as Renaissance, have returned to his older style and achieved success in Europe but only modest notice in the United States. Since 2004, he has produced a total of six Top 40 singles in the UK. On February 1, 2010, Richie made a remix of "We Are The World" in which Justin Bieber sings Richie's original part in the song. Lionel Richie is to tour Australia next year and is scheduled to perform at several winery events in March 2011.[5]

Long-lasting popularity and later career

In 2002, Richie's song "Running with the Night" was featured on the Rockstar North video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City though the song was removed from later versions of the game. In 2004, he appeared on Canadian Idol as his songs were featured during a Canadian Idol week.

Later in 2004, he also appeared on the British motoring television series Top Gear in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment where he was interviewed by host Jeremy Clarkson. During his lap, the Suzuki Liana he was driving lost a wheel due to hard cornering.

In November 2005, Lionel Richie performed with Kenny Rogers on a CMT Crossroads special. The show gave an informative insight into their friendship both in and out of the music world. Richie was also the headliner at a 2000 Fourth of July tribute concert with Fantasia Barrino at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On May 7, 2006, Richie performed on the main stage (Acura Stage) at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, replacing Antoine "Fats" Domino, who had fallen ill. Richie released his eighth studio album entitled "Coming Home" on September 12, 2006. The first single of the album was "I Call It Love" and was premiered in July 2006, becoming his biggest hit in the U.S. in ten years. The album was an incredible success for Richie in the United States, peaking at #6. His adopted daughter Nicole Richie stars in the music video for this track.

On December 9, 2006, Richie hosted and performed live on the British television show An Audience with Lionel Richie. Two months later, he performed "Hello" on the 49th Grammy Awards show.

On November 25, 2007, he made a surprise appearance on the Australian Idol grand finale performing "All Night Long (All Night)" at the Sydney Opera House. Richie donated to Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign.

On May 2, 2008, Lionel Richie was the 21st recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's annual Spring Sing. In accepting the award, Richie said: "Forget about surviving 30 some odd years in the music business, Lionel Richie survived 27 years of Nicole Richie."[6]

Recently, he has announced that he would like to get The Commodores back together soon, "or in the next 10 years no one will care."[7]

On December 31, 2008, Richie performed in Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebration and ball drop. He also performed on the 2009 season finale for American Idol with Danny Gokey.

A new album, Just Go was released in spring 2009 – around the time Lionel confirmed there is to be a Commodores reunion in the near future.

On July 7, 2009, Richie performed "Jesus is Love" at Michael Jackson's memorial service.

On May 30, 2010, Richie performed at the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington D.C., singing "Stuck on You"[8] and "America the Beautiful."[9][10][11] Richie himself is from a military family.[11]

Richie and Guy Sebastian performing "All Night Long" during Richie's 2011 Australian and New Zealand tour.

In Australia on October 2, 2010, Richie performed at the AFL Grand Final Replay in the Pre-game entertainment to a sell out crowd and will also play post match at AAMI Park.[12]

Richie returned to Australia in 2011 where he and guest artist Guy Sebastian toured Australia and New Zealand with concert tour dates spread throughout the months of March and April 2011.[13][14] Richie and Guy Sebastian have recorded Richie's 1983 #1 single "All Night Long" together, to raise money for Australian and New Zealand flood and earthquake relief. Richie handpicked Sebastian to support him in Australia and the pair will perform the song together at each concert.[15][16]

Popularity in the Arab world

In recent years, Richie has become a phenomenon in various Arab states,[17][18] and has performed in Morocco, Dubai, Qatar and Libya.[19] ABC News said, "Grown Iraqi men get misty-eyed by the mere mention of his name. 'I love Lionel Richie,' they say". They can sing an entire Lionel Richie song. According to Richie, he was told that Iraqi civilians were playing "All Night Long" the night U.S. tanks invaded Baghdad. Richie was against the war, but says he could see a day when he would come and perform in Baghdad. "I would love to be here for that."[19]

Family

Richie married his college sweetheart, Brenda Harvey, on October 18, 1975. During their marriage, Lionel began a relationship with Diane Alexander in 1986. In 1988 while separated, Brenda allegedly discovered Lionel and Alexander together in a Beverly Hills hotel room by saying she was "room service", and breaking in the door. A confrontation ensued and Brenda attacked both Lionel and Diane brutally. Brenda was arrested for spousal abuse, trespassing, assault towards Alexander, and vandalism. Lionel and Brenda divorced on August 9, 1993, after being married 17 years.[4]

In 1983 Lionel Richie and his wife, Brenda, informally adopted Nicole Camille Escovedo, the two-year-old daughter of one of the members of Lionel's band. They raised her as their daughter, Nicole Richie, and adopted her legally when she was nine years old. In a November 15, 2005, CNN interview with Ryan Seacrest, Nicole Richie denied that her birth father was a member of Richie's band. Lionel Richie became a grandfather on January 11, 2008, when Nicole Richie gave birth to a baby girl, Harlow Winter Kate Richie Madden,[citation needed] with the lead singer of Good Charlotte, Joel Madden; and again when she gave birth to Sparrow James Midnight Madden on September 9, 2009.

Richie married Diane Alexander on December 21, 1995.[4] They have a son, Miles Brockman[20] (born May 27, 1994),[4] and a daughter, Sofia (born August 24, 1998). Lionel and Diane Alexander divorced in January 2004.

Genealogy

In 2011 the NBC television program Who Do You Think You Are? did research into Lionel Richie's genealogy and specifically looked at information relating to one of Lionel's great-grandfathers, the father of Lionel's maternal grandmother.[21]

Lionel's great-grandfather was John Louis Brown (October 25, 1839 - September 8, 1931), the bi-racial (mulatto) son of the widowed 81 year-old American-Revolutionary-War-fighter Dr. Morgan Brown[22] (January 13, 1758 - March 23, 1840).[23] His mother was one of Dr. Morgan Brown's negro-slaves Mariah, who in his father's final years on his farm in Tennessee was his live-in housekeeper and nurse. Born a slave just like his mother, the baby John Louis Brown's ownership passed to his much-older half-brother Judge Morgan W(elles) Brown (January 1, 1800 - March 7, 1853) after his father's death in 1840, as did the ownership of his mother. Despite attempts by his father Dr. Morgan Brown to free both John Louis and his mother Mariah in his will that had been written before John Louis's birth in 1839, John Louis was never freed. John Louis was, however, educated as per his father Dr. Morgan Brown's wishes in his will, and against the mores and the laws of the time. The educated John Louis became known as "Doc"[24] and he took the Brown surname. After the death of his half-brother in 1853 John Louis's ownership had stayed within the family and he remained known as the slave of Morgan W. Brown even though Judge Morgan W(elles) Brown was deceased.[24][25] John Louis then served as the slave, non-combatant,[26] personal-body-servant to his older nephew John C(laiborne) Thompson (April 3, 1828 - February 2, 1872), the son of his deceased half-sister Elizabeth Little Brown (February 2, 1792 - December 10, 1854), during John C(laiborne) Thompson's 12 months of service from May 1861 to May 1862 in the American Civil War, as evidenced by John Louis's application for a pension late in life.[24][27] It has been recorded that John Louis was wounded during the war, and that “He bore dispatches to Felix Zollicoffer and performed many other duties of service and responsibility.”[24] It could not have been easy to be a slave soldier in a war where you were not even allowed to bear arms to defend yourself.

As an emancipated slave, in the 1880s and early 1890s John Louis Brown became a Supreme Grand Archon (national leader) of the Knights of the Wise Men, a fraternal organization that gave support and insurance to the African-American community. He is also credited with writing the rules, laws, and regulations for the group. The Knights of the Wise Men was a precursor to the later civil rights movement.

In a declaration to the Court in Nashville, Tennessee in 1832 John Louis Brown's father Dr. Morgan Brown claimed to have "a large family bible now in my possession, with the names of my ancestors from their first landing in America in the month of 1638."[28] This suggests that John Louis Brown's ancestors were among the early European settlers of what became the United States of America. This family bible may have belonged to the family of his ancestor Edward Browne who in 1668 in Maryland, Virginia married Sarah Williams, the daughter of Morgan Williams[29] (there were at least 5 Morgan Williams who immigrated to Virginia between 1639 and 1650).[30] This Edward Browne is possibly the son of an Edward Browne Snr. and his wife Ellinor. Edward Browne Snr. appears to have arrived in Virginia in 1637 (after being sponsored by a John Brodwell).[30][31]

Lionel Richie's maternal grandmother, Adelaide Mary Brown (January 19, 1893 - November 30, 1996), was John Louis Brown's only known child. She was fathered from his marriage on April 6, 1890 at the age of 50 to the bi-racial (mulatto)[32] teenage Volenderver Towson. The marriage floundered in the early 1890s during the period that the Knights of the Wise Men folded after suffering financially from the payment of many death benefits after a smallpox epidemic in 1891, and the treasurer soon after apparently disappearing with the remaining funds. A divorce was granted on July 28, 1897. The only other marriage that is known about was a marriage before 1924 to "a middle aged coloured woman who is trying to run him off from home". He was a proud man, who despite falling upon hard times was refusing to go to the poor house.[24] In his last years John Louis worked as a caretaker at Pleasant Gardens Cemetery, in the city of Chattanooga where the Knights of the Wise Men had been based. After dying of pneumonia at the age of 93, and he was buried there in the paupers' section.[33][34]

Breast cancer activist

Richie helped to raise over $3.1 million for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. He was the featured performer at the Foundation's Soirée Bouquet, the annual spring gala.

Richie told the crowd that his grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 80s, but survived and lived until she was 103 years old. He stated that she was his enduring symbol of hope and his reason for becoming a breast cancer activist.[35]

In popular culture

  • In the video game Final Fantasy XIII director, Tetsuya Nomura, based the character Sazh's appearance on Lionel Richie.[36]
  • In The Notorious B.I.G's song "I Love the Dough" featuring Jay-Z, Lionel Richie is referenced to in the line "Biggie be richie like Lionel", in reference to The Notorious B.I.G's wealth.
  • Lionel Richie is often mentioned in the television show Everybody Hates Chris, as many secondary characters claim that the main character (played by Tyler James Williams) resembles him.
  • Richie was mentioned in SpongeBob SquarePants, but was named as "Lionel Fishy," much to his disgust.
  • In August 2010 Richie appeared in a Walkers Crisps TV commercial in the United Kingdom with ex football star Gary Lineker.
  • Argentine-born soccer superstar, Lionel Messi, was named after Richie.[37]
  • Richie appeared in NBC's "Who Do You Think You are," on March 4, 2011, and found out his great-grandfather was the national leader of an early African American fraternal organization.[21]
  • A Lionel Richie "Missing" poster has surfaced as street art in Toronto and other cities, featuring the title "Hello?" above a wistful Richie's face with the caption "Is it me you're looking for?" The tear-away strips along the bottom of the poster (usually reserved for contact information) feature the lyrics to "Hello".
  • In a The Boondocks episode, "Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf Bitch", Granddad tells the story of how Brenda Richie attacked Lionel Richie and Diana in the hotel room. They show Brenda beating Lionel and Diana repeatedly and he refers to Brenda as knowing kung-fu.
  • On an episode of The Steve Harvey Show, Steve explained an altercation between Pretty Tony (a member of the Hightops) and Lionel Richie's wife, stating that "Lionel's wife beat Pretty Tony.....like she beat Lionel."
  • On the show In Living Color, Keenan Ivory Wayans (spoofing Don Cornelius on "Old Train") was working at the Soul Train scramble board, informing an elderly couple that they had a minute to figure out the famous TV star whose letters were on the board, hinting to the couple "it's not Lionel Richie." (The letters spelled "Mr. Ed" after the famous talking horse.)
  • Mentioned in Rush Hour 2 - quote [10]
  • Mentioned in a Family Guy episode "Stewie Kills Lois", episode 100, in which Peter gives Lois a copy of Lionel Richie's album, Can't Slow Down.
  • In an episode of The Cleveland Show, "Brown History Month", episode 18, Cleveland inflates an afro the resembles Richie's and Donna is quoted as saying she "doesn't want her house looking like Lionel Richie".

Discography

Filmography

See also


References & Notes

  1. ^ Huey, Steve. "Lionel Richie Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lionel-richie-p5267/biography. Retrieved March 4, 2011. 
  2. ^ Prominent Members of Kappa Kappa Psi
  3. ^ Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity
  4. ^ a b c d IMDb Biography - Lionel Richie [1], retrieved July 26, 2007
  5. ^ Gustafsson, Fredrik (December 14, 2010). "Lionel Richie to Tour Australia" [2]. Retrieved December 14, 2010
  6. ^ "Richie accepts Gershwin Award". Newsroom.ucla.edu. May 2, 2008. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/electronicplay.aspx?fid=24831&id=E0C5478. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  7. ^ Graff, Gary (May 18, 2009). "Lionel Richie Ready to Go With Albums, Tour, Commodores Reunion". Billboard. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/lionel-richie-ready-to-go-with-albums-tour-1003973986.story#/bbcom/news/lionel-richie-ready-to-go-with-albums-tour-1003973986.story. Retrieved August 24, 2009. 
  8. ^ Lionel Richie on YouTube
  9. ^ America, The Beautiful – Lionel Ritchie on YouTube
  10. ^ MEMORIAL DAY – America the Beautiful (Lionel Ritchie) on YouTube
  11. ^ a b CNN Newsroom: Lionel Richie and Memorial Day on YouTube
  12. ^ "Lionel Richie to play GF replay". September 29, 2010. http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/103434/default.aspx. 
  13. ^ Lionel Richie and Guy Sebastian To Play A Day On The Green. Undercover. Retrieved December 5, 2010
  14. ^ Recording of Lionel Richie performing with Guy Sebastian at NIB Stadium, Perth, April 6, 2011 Retrieved April 10, 2011
  15. ^ Lionel Richie and Guy Sebastian have teamed up to record a charity single for earthquake relief. Daily Telegraph, Sydney. Retrieved February 26, 2011
  16. ^ Guy Sebastian and Lionel Richie work All Night Long for flood relief. Undercover. Retrieved February 27, 2011
  17. ^ "Lionel Richie: The Key to Peace in the Middle East". http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6576395. Retrieved June 12, 2007. 
  18. ^ "Richie Beloved in Iraq". June 2, 2006. http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/richie%20beloved%20in%20iraq_02_06_2006. 
  19. ^ a b John Berman. "Baghdad's Lionel Richie Obsession". http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=1974794. Retrieved June 12, 2007. 
  20. ^ Spelling of name found on the California Birth Index 1905–1995, under RICHIE, MILES BROCKMAN, on May 27, 1994 in Los Angeles County.
  21. ^ a b Running Time: 42:56. "Who Do You Think You Are – Episode Guide – Lionel Richie". NBC.com. http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/episode-guide/season-2/282228/lionel-richie/episode-205/290754/. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 
  22. ^ The program "Who Do You Think You Are?" casts doubt as to whether Dr. Morgan Brown is John Louis's father because of his advanced age and suggests that John Louis's older half-brother Judge Morgan W(elles) Brown may be his father. This goes against the documentary evidence that Dr. Morgan Brown tried to provide for John Louis and his mother in his will written before John Louis's birth; that he recorded John Louis's birth in his diary (which it was extremely unusual for a slave owner to do); and that his wishes that John Louis be freed from slavery after his death were not followed by his son Judge Morgan W(elles) Brown. It also goes against the biological evidence that a 81 year-old man is quite capable of fathering a child.
  23. ^ More information on Dr. Morgan Brown can be found at [3]; [4]; [5]; & [6]
  24. ^ a b c d e Hamilton County Confederate Soldiers by Nat Hughes and John Wilson, 2005 [7]
  25. ^ John Louis Brown's Civil War Pension Application as shown on the program "Who Do You Think You Are?"
  26. ^ Black Confederate Pensioners After the Civil War
  27. ^ Rana's comments at: [8]/
  28. ^ RW Pension for Morgan Brown
  29. ^ Morgan Brown Genealogy
  30. ^ a b Early Virginia Immigrants, 1623-1666
  31. ^ Edward Brown(e)Genealogy
  32. ^ 1880 US census lists Volenderver, her siblings, and her mother as "mulatto": Lionel Richie's Towson Genealogy [9]
  33. ^ "Who Do You Think You Are?" - Lionel Richie
  34. ^ John Louis Brown - Find a grave
  35. ^ Lionel Richie Charity Work
  36. ^ "IGN: Sazh Katzroy Biography". Stars.ign.com. http://stars.ign.com/objects/143/14323270_biography.html. Retrieved January 27, 2010. 
  37. ^ "Ataque ochentoso: tributo a la gran década , Juan Pablo Varsky". Canchallena.com. http://www.canchallena.com/1320519-ataque-ochentoso-tributo-a-la-gran-decada. Retrieved May 24, 2011. 

External links


 
 
Related topics:
All the Great Love Songs (1985 Album by The Commodores)
Lionel Richie: Super Live 1987 (1987 Music Film)
Nightshift (1985 Album by The Commodores)

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