I noticed his successful collaborations with Lionel Richie.

And when you look at his solo discography, it includes work with The Commodores. Was he in that group, or is it just the Motown connection that links him with Lionel?

There's no wikipedia entry for him.

he produced the commodores and lionels solo work

That answers that. Thanks.

He also was behind Instant Funk's "I Got My Mind Made Up". Apparently he's in his 80s now.

Allmusic mentions this though :

Biography by Ed Hogan

James Anthony Carmichael produced and arranged the hits of the Commodores as well as those of the group's former lead singer and principal songwriter Lionel Richie, including his ten-million-selling LP Can't Slow Down. Besides being involved with their number one million-selling hits for Motown Records, Carmichael also played piano on Bettye Swann's 1967 number one R&B hit "Make Me Yours." Carmichael shouldn't be confused with James Carmichael, lead singer on Instant Funk's gold 1979 single "I Got My Mind Made Up."

http://www.allmusic.com/c...qq5ldae~T1

Don't know which site is correct, lol.
[Edited 6/13/09 15:24pm]

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, allmusic mentions this birthdate & place : Oct 12, 1920 in Harrodsburg, KY

Shango said:

Oops, why did I forget... lol

Shango said:

I thought he had passed on...


Oh!!! no it was their manager, can't think of his name now...Ben som'n
[Edited 6/13/09 17:59pm]

I think he also worked with Atlantic Starr on either the
Brilliance album or the Radiant album or both. It was Benjamin Ashburn
who was the commodores manager whom passed in 1984.

phunkdaddy said:

right!!!

Timmy84 said:

that's a different guy, otherwise i would have mentioned it as i'm a salsoul fan

unique said:

Yeah I was corrected.