11 Questions with Lionel Richie
By Celia Herrera, AOL Black Voices
Happy To Be Home
Island Records
Mr. Casanova
Lionel Richie has recorded some of the greatest love songs of all time. From 'Hello' to 'Endless Love,' even Richie's oldest hits from the 70s still get regular spins on the radio.



It's no easy task to sum up the accomplishments of a celebrated music icon. With a rich history in an era of musical breakthroughs and a generous list of timeless R&B and Pop songs, Lionel Richie has experienced one of the most lucrative careers in the music industry. And though he's been influenced by everyone from Smokey Robinson and Earth, Wind & Fire to Kenny Rodgers, Richie himself has served as an inspiration for decades upon decades of pop music. Starting in the 70s as the lead singer of the R&B group the Commodores, and a decade later charging out on his own as a solo artist, Lionel Richie has been through the thick, thin, and thunder of the music biz, selling over 100 million records worldwide.


Black Voices had a chance to talk with Richie about his recent experience working with the industry's hottest hit makers, his popularity in the Middle East, and his upcoming album, 'Coming Home' (Island).


BV: Your list of credits is 10 miles long. You've seemingly done it all, but you're not done! Tell me a little about your upcoming release 'Coming Home.' What does this album mean to you?


LR: This album represents Lionel Richie coming home. Coming back to the basis of what my whole career started on in the first place. It's not only me coming back to my roots, but it's me coming back to America. It's me actually starting out as a writer again, and everything is possible. When L.A. Reid and I were sitting down talking, he said, "What is it that you haven't done in a long time?" I said, "The old sound is the new sound." The last time I was in R&B was primarily with the Commodores.


BV: Tell us a little more about your relationship working with some of the newer hit makers in the industry?


LR: They were truly respectful. I got my props. Did I feel loved and respected? Yes I did! When you're outside of the country, and then you come back in town and go straight to Atlanta for Jermaine Dupri or Dallas Austin, or to the guys at StarGate -- I didn't have enough time to think about it, or second guess it. The only word I had to get used to, throughout this entire process, was Mr. Richie. The last time I was with the Commodores, they didn't call me Mr. Richie, okay? They never stopped calling me Mr. Richie. "Yo Mr. Richie," I probably got that once or twice but that was just about as far as it's gonna go. I really felt [like] part of the crew.


BV: How were you able to bridge the gap between hip and timeless?


LR: These guys know how to put a record together in five minutes. What I had to try to teach them was, basically, when you use this song five years from now, can you use the same words? Or did you use every hip word today? I gave them the definition of the word hip; it means now. Only right now. I said if you can just overcome the hip-ness and get to quality, real, everyday talking. And of course from then on we were in heaven.


BV: What's the most important part of this recording process for you?


I have a healthy respect for that empty blank page of paper, with no lyrics on it. And then somewhere about an hour and a half to three hours later, there's your whole song written out. It's still intimidating, I don't care who you are! I don't care what you think! That blank piece of paper is still terrifying.


BV: From the sound of your new single, 'I Call it Love,' your new music doesn't sound forced - it sounded updated without being trendy. Is that what you were going for?


LR: It sounds like it's been here all the time. The best compliment that was ever given - we were playing the record [in the studio], and a guy said, "Are you working on the greatest hits package? That's one of your old [songs] right?" In other words, it sounded like an old hit record. It sounds so familiar. That's when you really pull it off.

Your Voice

BV: Your fans have come to expect a very consistent old school feel. Is it important for you to maintain the sound that your fans are familiar with?


LR: You have no idea how excited the guys were in writing this. They said, "Finally! We can give some melodies [to you] that we can't give to the current artists today." So this is believable for Lionel Richie, and at the same time like you said, it's updated. It was the greatest combination. I remember I said to [the production team] "Ok, I'm giving you permission, this is Lionel Richie 2006, what does he sound like?" And they said, "We're going to make you sound like Lionel Richie!"


BV: Is this the approach you take with other artists when you write for them?


Yes. When I wrote 'Missing You' for Diana Ross she said, "What are you going to [write for me that is] new and different?" I said, "I'm going to make you sound like the old Diana Ross." And she thought; do we really want to go back there? Back there? That's the whole sound of what [she is] about! I said "That's what made you." The world is waiting for that sound to come back and she's trying to sing like Whitney [Houston], I said "Forget Whitney! If you have a style, God blessed you."


BV: How did your music come to be so popular overseas?


LR: I have no blessed idea! We [played in] China for the first time, and they know every word of every song. Instead of singing "Hello, is it me you're looking for..." I sang "Ni-Hao" (Ni-Hao means 'greetings' in Chinese), and of course the place went completely berserk. I asked a woman, "How do you know me?" She said, "The 1984 Olympics. They opened up a clear channel to America, and we only know Lionel Richie from the closing ceremony. They shut it off again and that was the end of it."

BV: CNN even reported that you were the biggest artist in the Middle East. What's your theory behind that?


I'm on my plane flying into Berlin to do a show. The pilot calls me up and says, "Mr. Richie the air traffic control guys want to speak to you." And the guy said, "Is this Lionel Richie? We just wanted to let you know we're big fans of yours." I had about a 10 minute conversation with the guys from the tower. When we landed, the police, the customs people, and a couple of delegates came out. They said "Up until now, we've always known that the Russians were monitoring our airspace, but they've never broke silence until today. Those were the Russians you were talking to!" It scared me to death, and it scared them to death! We are huge in Russia, huge in Japan, huge in Australia. The Middle East came along, and I never thought for a moment that it was allowed; that they could play our music in the Middle East.


BV: What's on your iPod that no one would guess you would be listening to?


LR: Green Day and Usher.


BV: Do you follow 'American Idol?' Is the world better off with or without it?


LR: [sighs] Did you hear that sigh? That was the right answer. I think it's the best amateur talent show that we have on television. It has nothing to do with being professional, but it's a great amateur vehicle.


2006-06-09 11:19:29

He's a prime example of "what goes around, comes around.."

meltwithu said:

Love that record

hm..
I'll believe this when I hear it;
when I hear a song that has the feel of the CLASSIC 'just to be close to you'
& NOT
the feel of that syrupy 'say you say me bullshit..

meltwithu said:

I'd agree with that assessment.

Yeah I will believe it when i hear the new record, in the past i have liked Lionels later releases but he still seems to be trying to be "hip" and "Slick". I think he said it best in the article when he said "these guys can do a record in 5 minutes", and honestly thats why they all sound the same. The leadoff song for the Lionel album is hopefully not what the album is about, because its not very strong for him, i have liked alot of his past leadoff tracks from his last few cd's. So maybe this is just a track that they feel will get airplay but its nothing to "come home" to.