Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and television personality. During the 1970s, he recorded with the funk band the Commodores, and his solo career made him one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s.
Beginning in 1968, Richie was a member of the Commodores. The Commodores 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 breakup ballad Sail On. Richie launched a solo career in 1982 and his 1982 debut solo album, Lionel Richie, contained three hit singles the U.S. number-one song Truly, and the top five hits You Are and My Love. The album hit No. three on the music charts and sold over four million copies. His 1983 follow-up album, Can’t Slow Down, sold over twice as many copies, propelling him into the first rank of internatinal superstars. He als co-wrote the 1985 charity single We Are the World with Michael Jackson, which sold over 20 million copies.
Over the course of his career, Richie has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time. He won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Can’t Slow Down, and his other Grammy Awards include Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) in 1985 and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Truly in 1983. Richie has also been nominated for two Golden Globe awards and won one. In 1982, he was nominated for Best Original Song for the film Endless Love. In 1986, he won the Golden Globe award for Best Original Song for Say You, Say Me, featured in the film White Nights. The song also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 2016, Richie received the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award. He has served with Luke Bryan and Katy Perry as a judge for the singing competition American Idol since its move to ABC from the Fox network, since 2018.
Solo career
Richie’s 1982 debut solo album, Lionel Richie, contained three hit singles: the U.S. number-one song Truly, which continued the style of his ballads with the Commodores and 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 No. 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 number-one hit All Night Long, a Caribbean-flavoured dance number that was promoted by a colorful music video produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith. In 1984, he performed All Night Long at the closing ceremony of the XXIII Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
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 late 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 and Just for You, have returned to his older style and achieved success in Europe but only modest notice in the United States.
Later career
Richie was the headliner at a 2006 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 & Heritage Festival, replacing Antoine ‘Fats’ Domino, who had fallen ill. Richie released his eighth studio album titled 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 a big success for Richie in the United States, peaking at No. 6.
On May 2, 2008, 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.”
In May 2009, Richie announced that he would like to get The Commodores back together soon. An album, Just Go, was released in 2009. On July 7, 2009, Richie performed Jesus is Love at Michael Jackson’s memorial service.
Richie returned to Australia in 2011 where he and guest artist Guy Sebastian toured the country and New Zealand with concert dates throughout March and April. Richie and Guy Sebastian recorded Richie’s 1983 number 1 single All Night Long together to raise money for Australian floods and New Zealand earthquake relief.
On March 26, 2012, Richie released his tenth studio album, Tuskegee, which featured 13 of his hit songs performed as duets with country stars. After years of mediocre sales in the U.S., the album returned him to the top of the Billboard 200 chart, his first number one album there since Dancing on the Ceiling, and achieved platinum status within six weeks of release.
On June 28, 2015, Richie played to an audience of between 100,000 and 120,000 people at the Glastonbury Festival, England. His show was described as “triumphant” by the BBC and was followed by his return to the top of the UK albums chart with a reissued compilation album of his work as both a solo artist and with the Commodores. In September 2017, ABC announced that Richie would be a judge for the revival of American Idol.
In May 2017, Richie was honoured at Berklee College of Music during its 2017 commencement concert when graduating students performed a medley of his discography. Richie was also awarded an Honourary Doctorate of Music. On December 3, 2017, Richie received the Kennedy Centre Honours.
In October 2017, it was reported that Richie had secured the rights to produce a Curtis Mayfield biopic.
On March 25, 201, Richie announced a 33-date tour across North America for the summer. His Hello Tour kicked off May 10 at Arlington’s KAABOO Festival and runs through August.