lionel richie ex funkeeter,the man who co-wrote brickhouse and wrote many great funk songs.
great piano player,ok saxophone player great funky voice,realy good songwriting.
question is if he didnt sold out would he be same class as stevie wonder,prince,curtis myfield.
would people consider him a legend?
and in the seventies what status he had ,before he left the commodores to be a sappy singer.

Nope.

i think he would have been more respected as a songwriter if his wife didn't whoop his ass.

Not even close. You're confusing a good songwriter with a music innovator.

Rhondab said:

That wasn't necesaary.

Funny, but totally unnecessary.

Lionel Richie is a very good songwriter, and a pretty good singer, but he's not in the class of a Stevie, Prince, Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield. He lacks that extra "something" that divides the great from the merely very good. In other words, he's a talented journeyman, but not a legend

Maybe if he didn't release Dancin' On the Ceiling

Just kidding.Actually, I agree with the post above me.

Unfortunately, I think he became a much bigger star when he left The Commodores and became a solo pop singer. I don't know why he didn't become an even bigger star in the 1990s, because Lord knows, other than hip hop, ballads were the only other thing on R&B radio. He should have fit right in. Maybe if he did some tired Disney soundtracks, he would have been bigger.

sitruk7 said:

Someone should have shot Lionel Richie after the song All Night Long....no actually they should have shot him for that video, WTF was that?

That video was horrible. It was choreographed dance hell. I felt like I was watching an episode of "Fame".

Lionel lost a lot of his credibility and fans back in the late 80's. The sappy songs and the incident with his ex-wife (Considering R. Kelly's ordeal, it's kind of tame now) was a big deal back at that time. I remember reading in Billboard (around 1991) that he had a real difficult time seeking new label interest and getting shows booked in the United States. Promoters didn't want to book him. He was "blacklisted" from a lot of music industry people. If he had reunited back with the Commodores as planned then, it might have done him some good.

PFunkjazz said:

you know you laughed...stop it!

i love lionel....he can sing and write his ass off...

so i don't see the problem...all this otha stuff shouldn't be a

factor... there is plenty otha artist(who shall remain name less)

that has done worst and are still looked upon highly....come on

people need to give credit where credit is do and stop hyping up

the talentless...