Lionel Richie is an American producer, performer, and composer. The peak of his popularity came in the mid-eighties. His hits were at the top of the charts. The musician has received many prestigious awards. The most valuable of them are the Golden Globe and the Oscar.
In 1949, a boy was born to a family of teachers at the Tuskegee Institute in the southeastern United States. Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. was born on June 20. The parents lived on the student campus. The childhood of the future celebrity was calm and cloudless.
Carier start
The grown up Lionel was assigned to the Joliet Township High School. Her program included many sports disciplines. The boy showed excellent tennis talent. Upon graduation, he was awarded a scholarship to continue his education at a local university.
When choosing a faculty, Richie seriously thought about a career as a priest. He was planning a course in theology. However, joining the Psi fraternity was a good reason to overturn the decision. By the mid-sixties, the future famous musician became interested in music. He learned to play the saxophone.
The young performer joined the group of music students "The Commodores". He was offered to take the place of the soloist and perform compositions in the R&B style. The collective specialized in dance melodies. By 1968 the band was signed to Motown Records.
The recognition soon came. The ensemble began playing as an opening act for the then famous "The Jackson 5". By the end of the seventies, Richie began to write compositions on his own. He was commissioned by such famous singers as Kenny Rogers.
The new song "Lady" soared to the very top of the charts. The musical world started talking about a talented young composer. In 1981, Lionel performed a duet with Dina Ross. The song was used as a soundtrack for the film "Endless Love". After the overwhelming success, Richie decided to leave the group and pursue a full-fledged solo career.
Solo performances
The entire further biography of the performer changed abruptly after leaving the ensemble. The debut solo album recorded by him in 1981 took the third place in the music charts. The circulation sold four million. During the work on the disc, Lionel did not use dance rhythms.
He gave preference to musical and lyrical genres. The right choice made the composer and the singer famous in one moment. In terms of popularity, Richie was not inferior to such luminaries of pop music as Prince or Michael Jackson. Glory came after the second album. "Can't Slow Down" has won two Grammy awards.
The CD includes the hit "All Night Long". Later, the composition was supplemented with a colorful clip. The song was performed at the closing ceremony of the 23rd Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Several more top compositions followed the hit.
Of these, the most successful were the sentimental ballads "Penny Lover", "Hello", "Running with the Night", "Stuck on You" and the song "Say You, Say Me". The last composition was created for the painting "White Nights". She won both an Oscar "and" Golden Globe "as the most original soundtrack.
In 1986, Richie recorded the album "Dancing on the Ceiling". It includes new songs and a composition that has become an overwhelming success for the author. Then, for a decade, Lionel processed the accumulated materials and worked on a collection of greatest hits. Live work in the studio was kept to a minimum.
Fans loved Richie's old compositions very much. But the lack of new songs affected the popularity of the idol. By 1996, the singer decided to remind about his person with a new album. In the disc "Louder Than Words" the author again turned to the dance rhythms of R&B.
The novelty did not cause enthusiasm. Negative experience forced the composer to follow the beaten path and release the collection "Renaissance". His main hit was the composition "How Long". The song entered the top 40 in the United States and Great Britain.
New takeoff
The singer began working in the studio in the two thousandth. He attended large-scale events only occasionally. But he was actively involved in touring activities. He traveled around the country and starred in music videos. In 2003, Richie appeared on the screen with the famous Spanish performer Enrique Iglesias in the video "That Love a Woman" directed by Simon Brand.
On July 4, 2006, a concert took place at the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts. The singer Fantasy Bravo performed in it simultaneously with Richie. Lionel then attended the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Jazz Festival where he performed his hits on the main stage. After taking a short break, the musician presented the fans with a new disc "Coming Home".
The very first composition on the disc, "I Call It Love", became the most successful in Richie's work in a decade. In the national hit parade, she won the sixth place. The disc was presented in the UK as part of the show "An Audience with Lionel Richie". A couple of months later, the musician performed his hit “Hello” at the Grammy Awards ceremony.
At the end of the 2000s, the album "Just Go" was released. Richie has taken part in several charity events. At the farewell ceremony for Michael Jackson, he sang "Jesus is Love". For two years then the singer toured with Australian performer Sebastian Guy to raise funds for the elimination of the consequences of the disaster.
A full-scale American tour began after the release of "Tuskegee". In 2015, at the end of June, the musician took part in the legendary British Glastonberry Festival.
Private life
In 1975 Lionel married Brenda Harvey. Eight years passed, and the husband and wife took the girl into their care. Her singer accidentally saw at one of the concerts. The parents of little Nicole were unable to take care of the child due to the difficulties in the relationship. In 1989, Nicole Camilla Escovedo officially became the daughter of the couple. His happy personal life collapsed in 1993. Richie began dating designer Diana Alexander, whom he married in 1995.
The children Sophia and Miles were born in the new family. With the resumption of Lionel's creative career in the 2000s, the couple broke up. They kept their relationship friendly. Often, pictures of both girls with their father appear on Diana Alexander's Instagram.
At the end of 2018, Richie performed in local clubs in Hawaii. In the second season of American Idol, he became a judge and auditioned for contestants in Denver and Colorado. In 2019, the artist appeared on television in the show's finale as a judge.
Richie decided to organize a spring tour. Its program will include Atlantic City, Tuckerville and Miami.
