Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr.is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. Beginning in 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 the number-one hit "Truly". He has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionR&B Singer
Date of Birth20 June 1949
CityTuskegee, AL
CountryUnited States of America
When I came up with the idea for 'Tuskegee,' I didn't want to be confined by boundaries of age, genre or demographics. I am thrilled with how well this album has been received by people from all walks of life. It is truly living up to the vision we had when we created it.
In life you must be able to discern between who and what is genuine and artificial. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I realize that you can't please everybody all of the time and that sometimes you have to just go for what you know.
People have allowed me into their homes, through my words and my music.
I'm a songwriter, and people will tell you the greatest stories about their lives, whether you want to hear it or not.
People, as critical as it looks, we're OK. We are in control, whether we feel it or not.
Exactly when people are in turmoil is the time that the entertainment business has always been at its best. Because people don't want to be reminded every day that they are under siege, or that they're not having a great time of life.
So much of my career has been about saying things the way people say them, using melodies not that I can sing but that the people can sing.
I just like people. I'll hold a conversation at a gas station. It's not about the fame and the fortune, I just like people.
Country music has always been about as close to R&B as you can possibly get. We're storytellers.
Father' meant to me provider... and I was working myself to death... but I wasn't physically home; I wasn't there every day.
Growing up with country, R&B, gospel, and classical music from my grandmother and pop, Tuskegee was the perfect melting pot for my influences as a writer.
When I was growing up, music was music and there were no genres. We didn't look at it as country music. Popular music in Tuskegee was country music. So I didn't know it in categories. It was the radio.
I knew I was going to do a country album one day. But I was just trying to figure out for the life of me, what we were going to do to make it different, unique.
It was very interesting in my world, because I grew up as a fan and I did not know that there was a thing called R&B, pop, country, classical - I just knew that I loved music.