Lionel Richie Tickets

Lionel Richie
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. who is more commonly known simply as Lionel Richie, was one of the most popular artistes during the 1970s and 1980s. He was born June 20, 1949, and grew up to be not just a Grammy Award-winning American R&B and soul singer, but also an Academy Award-winning songwriter, record producer, and even an occasional actor.

Biography:
Lionel Richie was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, and he grew up on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. His family moved to Illinois, and Lionel Richie graduated there from the Joliet Township High School. He was a star tennis player in Joliet, which had won him a tennis scholarship back at Tuskegee Institute. It was here that he graduated with a major in economics.It was at Tuskegee that Lionel Richie developed as a musician, where he formed lineups of R&B groups during the mid-'60s. By 1968, Lionel Richie was the lead singer and saxophonist with the group that brought him stardom, the Commodores.

Career:
Lionel Richie's became famous when he was with the Commodores, and performed as their front man. The Commodores were a 1970s nationally popular Motown band. Some of the fair best hits included "Three Times a Lady," "Brick House", and "Easy". Lionel Richie, however, split from the group in 1981 to pursue a solo career. This aspiration paid off as he turned into a sensation overnight. He has left an indelible mark as a solo artiste with 5 number 1 hits and 13 consecutive Top 10 hits in the U.S.

Lionel Richie commenced his solo career with the release of a self-titled album [1982]. It hit number 3 on the music charts and more than 4 million copies were sold. In 1983, his album, "Can't Slow Down", sold more than twice as many copies. He was also awarded the Grammy Award for the Album of the Year for this album [1984]. In 1986, he released yet another hit album entitled, "Dancing on the Ceiling", with hits in it such as the well known "Say You, Say Me," "Se La," and "Dancing on the Ceiling". However, this was the last of his commercial success. In the 1990s, the albums that he produced, such as, Louder Than Words and Time, did not have much success.

Family:
While Lionel Richie had success in music during the 1970s, he married his college sweetheart, Brenda Harvey on October 18, 1975. By 1983, the couple informally adopted a 2-year-old girl who was the daughter of people familiar with the Commodores. They brought Nicole Richie as their own daughter.

Popularity in the Middle East:
Though Lionel Richie may not have had much commercial success from 1990 onwards, his popularity has not declined. People still recognize and play his music. Even in places where English is not the first language [the Middle East], Lionel Richie is well liked. There are fans in Iraq too who can sing complete songs from his albums without knowing exactly what they are singing.

When Lionel Richie was asked about his popularity in places like Dubai, Morocco, Qatar and Libya [where he has performed too], he said: "I'm huge, huge in the Arab world. The answer as to why is, I don't have the slightest idea."