In addition to being a successful singer-songwriter, Lionel Richie also has a substantial net worth of $200 million dollars. Lionel Richie is a phenomenally talented musician and producer who originally came to public attention as a member of the group The Commodores. He also had a highly successful solo career during this time.
Lionel Richie Early Life
Lionel Brockman is a well-known actor. Richie, Jr. was born on June 20, 1949, in the Alabama town of Tuskegee. He grew up on the campus of Tuskegee Institute, which he attended. He received his high school diploma from Joliet Township High School in Joliet, Illinois, where he was a standout tennis player and earned all-state honours.
He attended the Tuskegee Institute on a tennis scholarship and graduated with a B.S. in economics from the institution in 1966. Richie created a variety of R&B groups during his time as a student at Tuskegee University in the mid-1960s. Richie spent a brief period of time in graduate school at Auburn University.
Lionel Richie Career
Richie became a member of the Commodores in 1968, where he sang and played saxophone. In 1968, the trio secured a one-record recording contract with Atlantic Records, which they later transferred to Motown Records. With the songs “Brick House,” “Machine Gun,” “Easy,” and “Three Times a Lady,” the Commodores established themselves as a popular R&B group. Richie began writing songs for other musicians in the late 1970s, and he has continued to do so to this day.
He penned the song “Lady” for Kenny Rogers, which went on to become his first number one hit in 1980. It was a duet with Diana Ross that Richie recorded the theme song for the movie “Endless Love,” which was released in 1981. Among Motown’s biggest hits, it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Richie was inspired by his success to strike out on his own and pursue a solo career.
It was 1982 when Richie published his first solo album, “Lionel Richie,” which had the hits “Truly,” “You Are,” and”My Love.” Richie’s second solo album, “The Best of Lionel Richie,” was released in 1993 and included the hits “Truly,” “You Are,” and”My Love.” The music was stylistically comparable to that of the Commodores.
The album peaked at number three on the charts and went on to sell more than four million copies worldwide. In 1983, he launched the single “Can’t Slow Down,” which went on to sell twice as many albums as “Lionel Richie.” “Can’t Slow Down” was also nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for its debut album. The album’s standout single was “All Night Long,” which Richie played during the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as part of the closing ceremony.
“Hello,” “Stuck on You,” “Running with the Night,” and “Penny Lover” were some of Richie’s Top 10 successes during the 1980s, among them. He penned and recorded the title song for the 1981 film “Endless Love,” which was directed by Richard Linklater. As a duet with Diana Ross, the song was nominated for an Academy Award in 1982 for Best Original Song for its originality.
Song “Say You, Say Me” was written and sung by him for the 1985 movie “White Nights.” In addition to winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the song charted for four weeks at the top of the US singles charts.
On “We Are the World,” Richie worked with Michael Jackson. He released the album “Dancing on the Ceiling” in 1986 which spawned five Top 20 songs including “Say You, Say Me,” “Dancing on the Ceiling,” “Love Will Conquer All,” “Ballerina Girl,” and “Sela.”
In the 1990s, Richie’s albums were not as successful as his first three albums. Richie has six UK Top 40 singles under his belt since 2004. The album “Just Go” was published by him in 2009. In celebration of the release of his tenth studio album, Richie released “Tuskegee” on March 26th, 2012.
In recent years, Richie has enjoyed tremendous success and become a household name in several Arab countries. Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Libya have all hosted him on stage.
Richie has won four Grammy Awards including Song of the Year in 1985 for “We Are the World,” Album of the Year in 1984 for “Can’t Slow Down,” Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) in 1984 and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Truly” in 1982. It was Richie who was the first to get an RIAA Diamond honour. There were two nominations for Richie at the Golden Globes, and he took home one of those honours.
He was a judge on “American Idol” for the first time in 2019.
Lionel Richie Personal Life
October 18, 1975, was the day Richie married his high school love Brenda Harvey. Nicole Camille Escovedo, the two-year-old daughter of Sheila E’s niece and a member of Lionel Richie’s band, was adopted unofficially by the couple. At the age of nine, Richie made Nicole’s adoption official and legal.
In 1986, Richie began an affair with Diane Alexander. Brenda Harvey was still his wife. After a long marriage of 18 years, Richie and Harvey decided to call it quits in 1993. Alexander and Richie wed in December of 1995. They have two children: Miles, a son, and Sofia, a daughter. In early 2004, they split up.
The lead vocalist of the band Good Charlotte, Joel Madden, had a baby girl with Nicole Richie in 2008, and Richie became a grandfather. Nicole and Joel welcomed their second child, Richie’s first great-grandchild, in 2009.
Read More:
- Austin Butler Net Worth: How Is He And How Much Balance He Has?
- Kaia Gerber Net Worth: Why Does Everyone Want to Know How Much Cindy Crawford’s Daughter Is Worth?
- The Met Gala’s Architecture-inspired Versace Gown Transforms Blake Lively Into a New Woman.
- Taylor Swift And Joe Alwyn Didn’t Attend The Met Gala in 2022, Here’s Why
