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Name | Lionel Richie |
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Background | solo_singer |
Birth name | Lionel Brockman Richie |
Born | June 20, 1949 Tuskegee, Alabama, United States |
Instrument | Vocals, piano/keyboards, saxophone |
Genre | Soul, R&B;, pop, pop rock |
Occupation | Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer, actor |
Years active | 1968–present |
Label | Island, MCA, Motown |
Associated acts | Diana Ross, Commodores, Nicole Richie, Alabama (band), Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Patti Labelle, USA for Africa |
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By the late 1970s, he had begun to accept songwriting commissions from other artists. He composed "Lady" for Kenny Rogers, which hit #1 in 1980, and produced Rogers's album Share Your Love the following year. Richie and Rogers maintained a strong friendship in later years. Latin jazz composer and salsa romantica pioneer La Palabra enjoyed international success with his cover of "Lady," which was played at Latin dance clubs. Also in 1981, Richie sang the theme song for the film Endless Love, a duet with Diana Ross. Issued as a single, the song topped the UK and U.S. pop music charts, and became one of Motown's biggest hits. Its success encouraged Richie to branch out into a full-fledged solo career in 1982. He was replaced as lead singer for The Commodores by Skyler Jett in 1983. His debut album, Lionel Richie, produced another chart-topping single, "Truly," which continued the style of his ballads with the Commodores.
Several more Top 10 hits followed, the most successful of which was the ballad "Hello" (1984), a sentimental love song that showed how far Richie had moved from his R&B; roots. Richie had three more Top Ten hits in 1984, "Stuck on You" (#3), "Running with the Night" (#7) and "Penny Lover" (#8). Now described by one critic as "the black Barry Manilow," in 1985 Richie wrote and performed a suitably soothing theme song, "Say You, Say Me," for the film White Nights, winning an Oscar for his efforts as well as reaching #1 on the U.S. charts and staying there for four weeks, making it the #1 song of 1985 according to Billboard's year-end Hot 100 chart. He also collaborated with Michael Jackson on the charity single "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, another #1 hit.
In 1986, Richie released Dancing on the Ceiling, his last widely popular album, which produced a run of US and UK hits including "Say You, Say Me" (U.S. #1), "Dancing on the Ceiling" (U.S. #2), "Ballerina Girl" (U.S. #7), and "Se La" (U.S. #20), Richie's most recent U.S. Pop Top Twenty hit. The title selection was accompanied by a video directed by Stanley Donen, which drew inspiration from Royal Wedding, a 1951 Fred Astaire film Donen had directed. The critical consensus was that this album represented nothing more than a consolidation of his previous work, though Richie's collaboration with the country group Alabama on "Deep River Woman" did break new ground. By 1987, Richie was exhausted from his work schedule and after a controversial year laid low taking care of his father in Alabama. His father, Lionel Sr., died in 1990. Richie made his return to recording and performing following the release of his first greatest-hits collection, Back to Front, in 1992.
Since then, his ever-more-relaxed schedule has kept his recording and live work to a minimum. He broke the silence in 1996 with Louder Than Words, on which he resisted any change of style or the musical fashion-hopping of the past decade, sticking instead with his chosen path of well-crafted soul music, which in the intervening years has become known as Contemporary R&B;.
Richie's albums in the 1990s such as Louder Than Words and Time failed to match the commercial success of his earlier work. Some of his recent albums, such as Renaissance, have returned to his older style and achieved success in Europe but only modest notice in the United States. Since 2004, he has produced a total of six Top 40 singles in the UK. On February 1, 2010, Richie made a remix of "We Are The World" in which Justin Bieber sings Richie's original part in the song. Lionel Richie is to tour Australia next year and is scheduled to perform at several winery events in March 2011.
Later in 2004, he also appeared on the British motoring television series Top Gear in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment where he was interviewed by host Jeremy Clarkson. During his lap, the Suzuki Liana he was driving lost a wheel due to hard cornering.
In November 2005, Lionel Richie performed with Kenny Rogers on a CMT Crossroads special. The show gave an informative insight into their friendship both in and out of the music world. Richie was also the headliner at a 2000 Fourth of July tribute concert with Fantasia Barrino at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On May 7, 2006, Richie performed on the main stage (Acura Stage) at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, replacing Antoine "Fats" Domino, who had fallen ill. Richie released his eighth studio album entitled "Coming Home" on September 12, 2006. The first single of the album was "I Call It Love" and was premiered in July 2006, becoming his biggest hit in the U.S. in ten years. The album was an incredible success for Richie in the United States, peaking at #6. His adopted daughter Nicole Richie stars in the music video for this track.
On December 9, 2006, Richie hosted and performed live on the British television show An Audience with Lionel Richie. Two months later, he performed "Hello" on the 49th Grammy Awards show.
On November 25, 2007, he made a surprise appearance on the Australian Idol grand finale performing "All Night Long (All Night)" at the Sydney Opera House. Richie donated to Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign.
On May 2, 2008, Lionel Richie was the 21st recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's annual Spring Sing. In accepting the award, Richie said: "Forget about surviving 30 some odd years in the music business, Lionel Richie survived 27 years of Nicole Richie."
Recently, he has announced that he would like to get The Commodores back together soon, "or in the next 10 years no one will care." Richie is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
On December 31, 2008, Richie performed in Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebration and ball drop. He also performed on the 2009 season finale for American Idol with Danny Gokey.
A new album, Just Go was released in spring 2009 - around the time Lionel confirmed there is to be a Commodores reunion in the near future.
On July 7, 2009, Richie performed "Jesus is Love" at Michael Jackson's memorial service.
On May 30, 2010, Richie performed at the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington D.C., singing "Stuck on You" and "America the Beautiful." Richie himself is from a military family.
Ritchie will return to Australia in 2011 where he and guest artist Guy Sebastian will tour Australia and New Zealand with concert tour dates spread throughout the months of March and April 2011.
Category:1949 births Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:Musicians from Alabama Category:American keyboardists Category:American male singers Category:American pianists Category:American pop singers Category:American record producers Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American soul singers Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Motown artists Category:People from Joliet, Illinois Category:People from Tuskegee, Alabama Category:Rhythm and blues pianists Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:Tuskegee University alumni Category:Island Records artists
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Name | Lyfe Jennings |
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Background | solo_singer |
Birth name | Chester Bamsu Jennings |
Born | June 03, 1973 |
Origin | Toledo, Ohio, United States |
Instrument | guitar, bass, piano |
Genre | Rock & Soul, soul |
Occupation | Singer-songwriter, record producer, instrumentalist |
Years active | 2003–present |
Label | Warner Bros. Records, Asylum Records, Jesus Swings |
Associated acts | LaLa Brown, Nas, Three 6 Mafia, Young Buck, Bun B, Raekwon, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony |
Url | http://www.lyfeonline.com |
With his ex-manager Joy Bounds, Jennings has two sons, Elijah and Phoenix. He also has a daughter.
Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Ohio Category:People from Toledo, Ohio Category:American male singers Category:American pianists Category:African American musicians Category:American rhythm and blues guitarists Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American soul musicians Category:American soul singers Category:Neo soul singers Category:American vegans Category:American record producers
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.