"Hello, it is me you're looking for?"
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his stint with the Commodores before becoming one of pop music's greatest artists. The Daily Telegraph ranked his performance at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival the number one act of the weekend.note
That Other Wiki has a rundown
on his life and career.
In 2017, he was named as one of three judges for the 2018 ABC revival of American Idol, alongside Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. During the 58th Academy Awards, Lionel Richie won an Best Original Song Oscar for 1985 movie White Nights song "Say You, Say Me". Richie had another Best Original Song Oscar nomination for the 1981 movie "Endless Love" with song of the same title.
Discography
- Lionel Richie (1982)
- Can't Slow Down (1983)
- Dancing on the Ceiling (1986)
- Back to Front (1992) (Compilation album with three new songs)
- Louder Than Words (1996)
- Time (1998)
- Renaissance (2000)
- Just for You (2004)
- Coming Home (2006)
- Just Go (2009)
- Tuskegee (2012)
"Let the tropes play on (play on)":
- Album Title Drop: Can't Slow Down and Dancing On The Ceiling on their respective albums.
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The African-sounding bridge in "All Night Long (All Night)" was just gibberish made-up by Richie when he didn't have enough time to hire a translator for some foreign language lyrics that he wanted in the song.
- Cover Album: The Tuskegee album consisted of reinterpretations of songs he wrote in full or part. Most were from his solo career, though "Easy" and "Sail On" were first recorded by the Commodores, and "Lady" by Kenny Rogers.
- Genre Shift: Tuskegee consisted of Richie collaborations with current country artists. And Jimmy Buffett.note One of the songs he chose for the album was an aversion; the original "Deep River Woman" was a collaboration with Alabama, and was released to country radio alongside the pop outlet.
- Gift of Song: Richie wrote the song "Three Times A Lady" as a gift for his parents' 37th wedding anniversary.
- Greatest Hits Album: The Definitive Collection (2003) features his biggests hits.
- Meaningful Name: Tuskegee is the name of the Alabama town where he was born and attended college, specifically Tuskegee Institute (now a "University").
- Older Than They Look: This picture?◊ He was 68 when it was taken.
- One-Woman Song: "Ballerina Girl" and "Deep River Woman" from Dancing on the Ceiling.
- Stalker with a Crush: Plays one in the video for "Hello", in which he pursues a blind performance art student. Extra squicky as his character is a professor.
- The Music Video Show says gives an alternative to this in an episode saying, she knows what's going on.
"It's kind of their thing." - The Music Video Show says gives an alternative to this in an episode
- Teacher/Student Romance: The music video to Hello by Lionel Richie has this type of romance between a blind woman and a music teacher. The teacher spends the video stalking and lurking around but the ending (the student has just finished sculpting a bust with Richie's likeness) implies a mutual attraction.
"Everyone you meet (all night), they're jamming in the street (all night)
All night long (all night), feel good, feel good (all night)"
All night long (all night), feel good, feel good (all night)"
