Lionel Richie

Singer and songwriter Lionel Richie born on June 20, 1949 in Tuskegee, Alabama. His grandfather worked at the Tuskegee Institute with Booker T. Washington. Lionel Richie was the founder of the Commodores, his debut solo album Lionel Richie was a US number 3 hit, and ‘Truly’, a song from that album, reached US number 1 spot, winning him a Grammy award. He performed one of his most popular hits, ‘All Night Long’, at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Richie co-wrote the famine relief song ‘We Are The World’ with Michael Jackson in 1993. Later albums include Louder Than Words, Renaissance, and Coming Home.Lionel Richie was married to Brenda Harvey for 17 years. The couple adopted daughter Nicole Richie, but they divorced in 1993. He married Diane Alexander in December 1995 and together they have son, Miles Brockman and daughter, Sofia.
Richie wasn't bitten by the recording bug again until 1996, by which time he'd endured his share of personal loss: his father had passed away, and his marriage to wife Brenda -- the muse behind some of his most successful ballads -- had fallen apart. In approaching his comeback, Richie attempted to update his sound to reflect a decade's worth of developments in urban R&B. The result, Louder Than Words, was a moderate success, reaching the Top 30 and going gold. However, it didn't produce any major hit singles, and Richie's nods to new jack swing and hip-hop were criticized as awkward. 1998's Time found Richie in a more familiar element, relying on his signature sound with only slight musical updates. However, the album flopped, spending only a few weeks in the lower reaches of the charts. Richie's next album, Renaissance, was released to a favorable reception in Europe in late 2000; it was issued in the U.S. in early 2001. Three years later, on the heels of enduring a very public and bitter divorce with his second wife, Diane, Richie released Just for You. The 2006 album Coming Home found him working with an all-star cast of collaborators including Jermaine Dupri, Raphael Saadiq, Sean Garrett, and Dallas Austin.