Lionel Richie Debuts Country Duets at CMA Awards :
October 28, 2011
Legendary R&B and Soul singer Lionel Richie will debut songs from his upcoming country duets album at the 45th CMA Awards on November 9. Performing the duets with Ric [...]
Lionel Richie Records Duets Album with Country Heavyweights :
January 22, 2011
Lionel Richie, who has written some gigantic country hit songs for other artists in the past, is now going country himself.
Richie during the 1980s became established [...]
lionel richie Biography
Lionel Richie, the American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on June 20, 1949. Since 1968, Richie has been a Commodores band member. The group is signed with Motown Records. In 1982, Richie launched his solo career with his self-titled album, which spawned his number one hit single “Truly.”
Richie, while a student at Tuskegee during the middle 1960s, formed several R&B groups. In 1968, Lionel became the Commodores' saxophonist and singer. The group in 1968 signed with Atlantic Records and then moved on after one record to sign with Motown Records and released popular funky, danceable tracks like “Brick House” and “Machine Gun. Richie, over time, sang and wrote songs that were more easy listening, romantic ballads like “Sail On,” “Still” “Three Times a Lady” and “Easy.”
Three hit singles were spawned off of Richie's self titled 1982 debut album: “Truly,” “My Love” and “You Are.” The album peaked in the No. 3 spot and sold more than 4 million copies. “Can't Slow Down,” Richie's followup album from 1983, sold over 8 million copies and earned Richie two Grammy Awards, which included Album of the Year, and also spawned “All Night Long,” a No. 1 hit single. In 1984 he had four Top Ten hits, including “Hello,” “Penny Lover,” “Running with the Night” and “Stuck on You.” Richie's final widely popular album, “Dancing on the Ceiling,” was released in 1986. The set spawned the hit singles “Ballerina Girl,” “Dancing on the Ceiling” and “Say You, Say Me.”
Richie's later albums failed to match the commercial and popular success of his previous ones, although his 2006 set “Coming Home” did peak in the No. 6 spot and spawned his hit single “I Call It Love,” which was Lionel's biggest U.S. hit single in ten years.