Lionel Richie has never been one to play it safe. "Making a new record is always a mystery.For him It's a journey into the unknown. Lionel Richie recalls the singers that were straight-ahead R&B.
But just because Mr.Richie present life is so vibrant and exciting, one must not forget Lionel Richie's painful past. During his career he has sold 70 million albums - which puts him in very select company. He has won five Grammies, an Oscar, a Golden Globe and countless American Music Awards.
In 1984 he performed All Night Long during the closing ceremony for the Los Angeles Olympics to a world-wide audience of over 2.3 billion people. Not bad for a country boy from Tuskegee, Alabama.
Lionel's original plans was to be an Episcopal priest ended when he was spotted touting a saxophone at his college freshman show. Originally called the Mystics the band were renamed the Commodores in 1969 and after three years playing the “chitlin” circuit of the Deep South signed with Motown.
"During Lionel Richie's first day at Motown, he used call it the University of Motown because, he was surrounded by all those people, it was a great place to polish your craft."
In 1982, after splitting from the Commodores Lionel released his debut solo album, Lionel Richie. Its first single, 'Truly', topped the charts, and the album spun two more hits. His second solo album, Can't Slow Down in 1983 saw an uptempo shift with the first single 'All Night Long'. Another US number one it stayed in the charts for five months, outselling 'Endless Love' and becoming Motown's biggest selling single ever. The album stayed in the charts for three years, featuring three more major hits, 'Hello' (which reached number one in the UK), 'Stuck on You' and 'Penny Lover', eventually selling over 20 million copies.
In 1985 Lionel got together with some more great singers such as Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones to write and record the star studded ‘We Are The World’, the US theme tune for Live Aid, which earned millions for famine relief in Africa.
1986 Academy Awards. Lionel's third solo album, Dancing on the Ceiling sold over 6 million copies worldwide and combined with a sell-out World tour, it confirmed him as one of the biggest recording stars in the world.
However, during the nineties he took a deliberate break from the treadmill of touring and recording. A recurrent throat problem, compounded by divorce and the death of his father caused him to re-examine his priorities. "There was a lot of growth, a lot of introspection during that time.
Although he may have been out of the public eye, He never truly stopped going into the studio, putting down ideas and listening to what else was out there.
In 1996 after signing a new recording deal with Mercury/Universal, he released the critically acclaimed Louder than Words, followed two years later by Time. In the meantime he had remarried and had become a father twice again. "Louder than Words cleared the air a lot," he says. "It got rid of a lot of baggage. Time was a healing record."
By the time he had started to record Renaissance Lionel was ready for fresh challenges. Lionel says that “Every album is a rebirth, a new beginning.
With a Renaissance singer like Lionel Richie he will once again show the world the depth and breadth of his unique talent.
Bio written by: Nyree |
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