commodores always seemed like nice guysonly interested in music ,
far away from scandals ,but what is the reason lionel left the group?

he could have build succesfuly solo career and
career with his band commodores.
was there any kind of argument?
i heard there was a fist fight almoust between lionel and walter orange???

I don't know if there was any bad blood,but I do know this...

In 1986,Lionel was preparing to release his third solo album 'Dancing On The Ceiling' and the Commodores were preparing to release their follow-up to the successful 'Nightshift' LP.The guys were told that their album would come out before Lionel's,but Motown changed their mind and released Lionel's album first.That was the last straw.The guys were furious and left Motown after that.They felt that Motown was more committed to Lionels' solo career.

so there is something,bigest mistake of lionel career is that he left commodores,he could have achived legendary status

I wish the guys could sit down,sort out any differences and do a reunion tour.I wouldn't go see go Lionel as a solo act.It's gotta be with the Commodores.

i asked commodores on their myspace page about reunion tour and j.d. answer me very diplomatic that he hopes it happens one day

The story I've always heard boil down to rivalry within the band. Some of the group thought Lionel's lovesongs hurt the image of the band. Lionel started out in the group as a horn player and some of the members didn't really see the hitmaking potential of his songwriting. Later after Lionel began to have 'pop chart' success and positive reviews for his ballads, he was accussed within his own group of being a sell-out to his race.

Lionel has said that it was heavy on him emotionally during that time, because he felt like an outcast within the band. He's also said that he didn't appreciate hvaing to split royalties with the rest of the bandmembers on Commodore tracks that he'd written. The whole thing came to a head when the group demanded he split royalties with them for songs he wrote without them and released on other acts like Kenny Rogers, etc. Lionel finally got the nerve to quit the band, and try his luck as a solo act. The rest is history.

It's not going to happen. Like Soul said, the reunion was going to place in the late 80's and Lionel punked out. Lionel said on his BET 06 special that he wanted it to go down but he wanted THEM to call him.

VH-1 tried to reunite them (with all of them saying "yes"), but only Thomas, Ronald, and Milan showed up. With the passing of Milan Williams, they could have sorted something out like a summer tribute tour but there's still too many ego games going on.

Lionel doesn't want to go one step back. William and Walter are too proud and want they want to keep the "Vegas style greatest hits show" on the road.

As a huge old school Commodoers fan, I really think Lionel needs to get his face away from the Botox shots, and get some funk back in his system one last time.

SPYZFAN1 said:

I didn't know that vh1 tried to reunite them. I would have liked to see that
show just to see what some of the members said especially william and walter.
William admitted during the nightshift tour he was disappointed with the way
lionel excited the band but he admitted the truth was that he missed lionel
and the camraderie the band used to have. It was something that you just can't
replace. Yeah i didn't like the way lionel put it on his 06 Bet special for
them to call him as though he was too busy to pick up the phone too.

SoulAlive said:

I am with you on that but the problem is these guys are cornering 60 years
old. I know the stones are doing it in their 60's but the question is would
the commodores older fans in their 50's and 60's be interested.

.
[Edited 4/21/08 22:04pm]

funksterr said:

HALF! I wouldn't give up half of my hard work either!

I don't know if the songwriting bit is true. Lionel left the group after
talking with sammy davis who convinced him to give it a shot at going solo.
Also lionel said himself he could no longer hold the group back while
they waited on him and his outside projects. Lionel always stated that the
group was so tight that they always felt nothing could break the mighty
commodores up and they broke up because of the outside projects and growing
stardom of lionel as a songwriter.

Am I the only one who's not too thrilled about either of them?

Harlepolis said:

I got yer back. Both are so done, it's ridiculous. A Commodores reunion would only bore me more than another Lionel Richie album.

Harlepolis said:

I can understand you hating Lionel's solo stuff, but you don't like the Commodores?!?

FuNkeNsteiN said:

phunkdaddy said:

Good point.Earth Wind and Fire are still selling out arenas,I'm sure the Commodores could do the same.

I didn't realise that Lionel was giving head to the band, even after he left. Maybe he's the original "Superhead".

Harlepolis said:

come on Harle,are you saying that you DON'T like any of these songs...

"Brick House"
"Easy"
"Zoom"
"Just To Be Close To You"
"Sweet Love"
"Too Hot Ta Trot"
"Lady (You Bring Me Up)"
"Slippery When Wet"
"Machine Gun"
"Sail On"

SoulAlive said:

There's no comparison here. The Stones are truly selling out arenas at more than 15,000 and upwards. I know this because tickets were unavailable on day of the show. Reserved seating.

EWF can do 1 night at near capacity amphitheaters under 7,000, maybe they can do 2 nights if they stack the bill with Chicago or Doobies. I know this because tickets were still available on day of the show. Reserved seating.

Commodores would get into large nightclubs like House of Blues with capacity under 2000. This is typical of where I've seen PFunk and Ohio Players and you can probably get discounted 2-for-1 tickets if you play it right. General Admission. BTW Bootsy's coming to this type of venue.

SoulAlive said:

I do like some of their stuff but,,,,,the shit is too damn hit & miss to me

Mong said:

Come on dude get serious.
Aw there it goes!

What's worse than all this, is when Lionel performs "Brick House." Walter Orange wrote and sang the original, and Li'nell performs it like it his tune!!
Blasphamy!!
Das right, I said Li'nell. Dat boys from da south, jus like me!!

check the facts better lionel co wrote brick house

thebanishedone said:

Sure did.

By the way I don't think there's bad blood but much less Lionel probably thinks it'll be better if he doesn't reunite with these guys even if it was for one concert because he's probably still scarred from hearing them guys clown him for selling them out to his pop tunes.

lionel doesn't sound right doing brick house solo, and neither does the singer of that song when he has to get off drums to to it. just like earth wind and fire. they still tour but to me, they are not the same without maurice doing his.

The chemistry just isn't the same without lionel. Yeah they did well
with the nightshift album and won a grammy but J.D Nichols just doesn't
fit in well especially trying to sing lionel's parts.