Lionel Richie…Still The bomb!

Official Lionel Richie Website
The first time I knew of Lionel Richie was when he joined the Commodores as lead singer in the early 70’s. Richie was born Lionel Brockman Richie Jr in Tuskegee, Alabama (home of Tuskegee University) which is where he attended college before becoming singer, songwriter and composer. While with the Commodores they had many successes (Easy, Three Times A Lady and Brick House).

Richie left the Commodores in 1981 and released his first (self-titled) solo album in 1982. The album hit No.3 on the charts and sold over 4 million copies. Over the span of his career he has done other major projects. He wrote and produced “Lady” for Kenny Rogers and today this song still remains one of Kenny’s most popular songs. He wrote, produced (and performed with Diana Ross) the title track for the motion picture “Endless Love” in 1981 at the request of the director “Franco Zeferelli”. The track spent 9 weeks at no.1 and garnered numerous award and became Motown’s all-time best selling single. In 1985 Richie co-wrote with Michael Jackson the global anthem “We Are The World”. The track included 45 top recording artists and won five Grammy Awards and helped raise millions of dollars for famine relief in Africa. In 1986 he won an Academy Award for best song for "Say You, Say Me" written for the motion picture "White Knights" starring Broadway star Gregory Hines and ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov. He was also nominated the same year in the same category for “Miss Celie’s Blues from the Steven Spielberg film "The color Purple".

All of the above accomplishments were before I was even a Lionel Richie fan and only a lukewarm fan of the Commodores. I just remember feeling that Lionel Richie thought he was all that and a bag of chips when in actuality "He Was". His most recent albums “Coming Home” released in 2006 and "Just Go" released in May of 2009 proves that he’s still as talented as ever and I am definitely a fan!