Lionel Richie: Dancing on the Ceiling Black Music Legends of the 1980s


Lionel Richie: Dancing on the Ceiling

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It's 1974 and the predominantly white audience

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of American TV's Rock Concert dance to the sound of the Commodores'

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breakthrough single Machine Gun.

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Tucked at the back of the stage, sometimes playing keyboards,

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sometimes sax, often just dancing around, is Lionel Brockman Richie Junior.

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It had taken the band six years

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to make it into the US Billboard Top 100,

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joining the likes of Wings, Eric Clapton and John Denver.

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We were like a big melting pot. Tom was into rock 'n' roll,

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Walter was into more funk, I was more pop.

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Marlon was into jazz and blues.

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We had a slogan - we take our music form one end of the music spectrum to the other.

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This tight funk outfit wasn't from the urban ghettos of Detroit,

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Chicago, New York or even New Orleans.

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These were country boys out of Tuskegee, Alabama,

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right in the heart of the Bible Belt of America's Deep South.

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# Ow! She's a brick...house! #

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So how did the Commodores' backline sax player step into the spotlight

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and become one of the biggest singer songwriters of the 1980s?

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# When you feel you lost your way

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# You've got someone there to say

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# I'll show you

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# Say you Say me... #

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Lionel Richie was an overnight success after 12 years.

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His music transcends time.

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It transcends race.

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His music is an international music.

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He's had an amazing career and he's an immense songwriter.

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This world is shit sometimes but you put on one of his songs

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and think, "It's not all bad". He makes the sun shine.

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# Three times... #

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It's just so simple and you hear it and go, "Why didn't I think of that?"

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# Your once, twice

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# Three times a lady

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# And I love you... #

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He is a country boy at heart

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but I think he's found a place for himself now.

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# I love you... #

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From the late 1970s through the '80s,

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Lionel was rarely absent from the top of the charts.

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A master of the romantic ballad, he wrote a string of hits

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that packed the dance floor and had the world 'Dancing on the Ceiling'!

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My absolute joy is in what I do.

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# Southern trees

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# Bear a strange fruit

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# Blood on the leaves

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# And blood at the root... #

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When Lionel Richie was born on the 20th June 1949,

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the murder and oppression of black people

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was still commonplace in America's southern states,

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and his home town of Tuskegee, Alabama

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was at the heart of the struggle for Civil Rights.

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It was the birthplace of Rosa Parks,

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whose refusal to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955

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sparked a revolution.

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The Tuskegee Airmen, the country's first black air squadron

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were based near the town, and as well as seeing action

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in Second World War, they led the fight against racism

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in the US armed forces.

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And in 1966, when Lionel was still at high school,

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a student from the Tuskegee Institute named Samuel Young Junior

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was murdered for using a whites only rest room

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following a civil rights march in neighbouring Montgomery.

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It would have been an incredible time to witness the kind of things

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that were going on with regard to race relations in the south.

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Tuskegee is unique because it's a place

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that had an unusually large number

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of African American professionals,

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and this allows educated black people

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to mobilise and actually offer an eloquent response

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to white oppression.

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Lionel was raised in the leafy surroundings

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of the Tuskegee Institute campus.

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His father was a retired army captain

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and his mother taught at the local school.

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Together they lived in this house

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along with Lionel's sister and grandmother.

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Being middle class most certainly effected Lionel Ritchie.

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His understanding of what he could be

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was going to be completely different than most black people in the south.

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Two great things happened in my life.

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Number one, I had a great family, great support group, lots of love.

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And secondly, I was born and raised on a university campus -

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Tuskegee University.

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Founded in 1881, shortly after the end of the American Civil War,

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Tuskegee Institute was built on the site of a former plantation,

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and established specifically for the education of African Americans.

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The most wonderful thing about being from Tuskegee,

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it was in the foremost of everything,

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that you had to have an education.

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In Lionel's position, his family could afford to send him to college.

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You had to have that want to go on to be a better person.

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You didn't stop, you had to go on.

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This university accomplished things

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that were not attainable at the time.

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Whatever you could dream, you could make that a reality.

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So reaching for the stars was not out of the realm,

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that was part of his being.

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When Lionel took the short walk down the road

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to the Institute in September 1968,

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it was to study economics - apparently on a tennis scholarship!

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Who told you that?

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If he got a tennis scholarship somebody bought it for him!

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I won't say anything!

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Whatever the extent of his sporting prowess,

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it wasn't tennis or economics that grabbed Lionel's attention

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it was music.

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Although his grandmother, a classically trained pianist,

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had tried to teach him to read music she'd long lost patience.

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It was just not in my realm,

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but I could listen to everything and play what I heard.

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Finally one day I played from beginning to end, and she said "You're not reading music."

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And I said "Yes I am." She says "No you're not, I didn't turn the page!"

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Undeterred, Lionel refused to let his lack of formal training

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stand as a barrier to the kind of music he wanted to make.

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He formed a band with five fellow students,

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swapped his racket for the sax and the Commodores were born.

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My mother had one idea in her mind - I was to become this great lawyer,

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settle down, get married, have kids, and be a respectable person.

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I showed up at my house with five guys with afros,

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and braids, and rollers in their hair,

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and they were talking some crazy nonsense about

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"We're going to take over the world."

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We had our eyes on the prize, and that was doing our music.

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Hoping one day that we would get a record deal.

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That's right.

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But we set out to do one thing that other bands weren't doing -

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they were not doing shows.

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With a set list of covers,

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the student band was soon picking up gigs off campus.

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During the summer we would leave Tuskegee and go up to New York.

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18-hour drive, I remember it like it was yesterday!

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And we would enjoy getting lost along the way.

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Especially if I was driving! We was bound to get lost. "Where are we? Texas!"

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We spent more hours in that van than anywhere else on God's earth!

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-Than any stage?

-Than any stage we ever played on!

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I could tell you moments of changing tyres

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on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike at around February.

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It's snowing outside! Oh my God the spare tyre is now flat!

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You know one thing, we were loving what we were doing.

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We were getting attention!

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We say we got together to meet girls!

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There's something about being 19-years-old, you can do anything.

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You can hop in a van, you can have all of your equipment,

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six guys, and you can drive anywhere in the world.

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Driven and ambitious, the band desperately needed a manager.

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After meeting former Coca-Cola marketing executive Benny Ashburn

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at one of their New York gigs,

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they eventually persuaded him to take the band on.

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He wasn't simply a manager who had only grown up in the music business,

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he was someone who had experience outside the business,

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so he both understood, and would have understood even more,

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how to develop someone's career.

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He was really, really trying to get a recording deal for them.

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He had found work for them at Small's Paradise in Harlem.

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They drew all of the New York crowd.

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People would come from all over the east coast

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to hear this amazing group - the Commodores.

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He was an amazing guy.

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And was really responsible for making the transition

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from a small-time funk outfit

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to the very major American stars that they were.

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With Benny behind them,

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the band started securing work far beyond their established circuit.

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We played white colleges, black colleges. We played the clubs.

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We played for frat fraternities,

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and sororities, and private parties,

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and all of those things that were going on.

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Then it led into the year of,

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you know, The Jackson 5.

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In 1971 Benny convinced Motown that the Commodores should support

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the label's latest pop sensation, the Jackson 5, on their US tour.

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On the road for two-and-a-half years,

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they played everywhere from Hawaii to New York,

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including a sell-out concert at Madison Square Gardens.

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It wasn't until they saw the Jacksons

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that they realised what it took to be up on a big stage

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at Madison Square Garden, and what you needed to do,

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how you needed to respond to an audience,

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how you needed to communicate, handle yourself.

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But it wasn't the Jacksons the Commodores wanted to emulate

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instead they looked across the Atlantic to a white British band.

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# Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged... #

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We studied The Beatles. We liked the concept of what they were doing,

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the harmonies that they were doing, they had their own sound.

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There were three things that they wanted to copy The Beatles for,

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and that was - friendship, music and creativity.

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But the stupid thing was that as the Commodores were getting successful,

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The Beatles were splitting up.

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Now a well-drilled live act,

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the Commodores were still performing covers,

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and still officially students.

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But now they were armed with a plan.

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Unfortunately for Lionel's parents,

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it wasn't the same plan they'd had in mind when they paid for him

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to study at the Tuskegee Institute.

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I'm quitting school in my senior year.

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I'm quitting school, I am joining the Commodores,

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we're going to be the black Beatles, we're going to take over the world!

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To choose it as a career-path, I mean, even then it was extraordinary.

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Even then he must have had the confidence in his own talents,

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and also, as many musicians say,

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to have something inside of you that is burning, and you have to do it.

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There is no way that you can't do it, you've gotta do this thing.

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In 1972 Benny finally signed a record deal with Motown.

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So far the band had been performing covers

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of the mainstream hits of the day, songs by artists like -

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Sly and the Family Stone and Glenn Campbell.

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But Benny realised that for the band

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to emulate the success of the label's big guns

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such as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder,

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and more importantly their idols, The Beatles,

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they would have to start writing their own songs,

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not just accept those written by Motown's in-house songwriters.

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When you say "You're gonna write your own music"

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and we looked at each other and "Write what? We don't write music."

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He said "I don't care if it's nothing more than

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"'roses are red, violets are blue, something I love you'

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"you're going to learn to write your own music!" Gee whizz!

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As Motown artists, the Commodores were in good company

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to learn the songwriting craft.

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We went to Motown, and I found there's Marvin Gaye right there,

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so I asked him a very simple question -

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"What conservatory did you graduate from?"

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And he said "What?" End of discussion.

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I went to Smokey Robinson and said

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"What school of music did you graduate from?"

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"I didn't, I didn't graduate."

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"Well how do you write music?" He said "Can you hum?"

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I grabbed a tape recorder and have been humming ever since.

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All the band members were encouraged to write their own material,

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and each song was auditioned in front of the rest of the band.

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At that time, there were eight songs that were put on an album.

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There were six of us in the band.

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Who was going to be the most powerful writer

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to get the other two songs?

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And it had to catch them within five seconds of that tape being on.

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If it didn't catch them within five seconds, they'd start yawning.

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Start looking around, shuffling.

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It's over, but they'd just say,

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"That's enough, stop the tape. Next!"

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It was Lionel who soon emerged as the band's most prolific songwriter,

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demonstrating an early talent for writing catchy love songs,

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in contrast to the band's mainly funk sound.

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# Show me a mountain so high

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# I'll show you love that'll last forever

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# Flyin' high So high

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# Oh oh oh ohhh... #

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As time went on, they asked me to sing the songs,

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and asked me to be the vocalist, and one song after the next,

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I developed more confidence with that than the horn,

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so I put the horn down and picked up the microphone.

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# Ohhh

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# Wooo... #

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The reason that I asked Lionel to sing lead vocal,

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which was not really approved by everyone,

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was his feeling. That was the magic.

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# The world is filled with all the lonely people

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# Trying to find their way

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# All they need is a hand to guide them

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# To a brighter day... #

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The inspiration for many of Lionel's early love songs

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was childhood sweetheart Brenda Harvey.

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After marrying in 1975, they set up a second house in LA,

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but Tuskegee always remained their home.

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With the Commodores now established Motown artists,

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and their 1976 album Hot On The Tracks receiving favourable reviews,

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manager Benny Ashburn started looking to tour beyond the USA.

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In 1977, they reached the UK, with Brenda at Lionel's side.

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The tour was to promote their latest album, simply titled Commodores.

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But still without a big hit in the UK,

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where the charts featured acts like ABBA, Wings and Leo Sayer,

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the band struggled to get radio airplay.

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I still remember talking to a Radio One producer at the time

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who was reluctant to play the Commodores,

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and he said to me, "We're already playing Earth, Wind & Fire,

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"so that's going to be enough of that kind of music."

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And I couldn't really see a lot of similarity between the Commodores and Earth, Wind & Fire,

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except that it was more than three or four black people.

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So, I guess that probably puts it in context.

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Even without airplay, word was spreading about their live shows.

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What's happenin'?!

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APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

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When they came over in 1977 for their first tour,

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they had the big afros, but they also had brightly coloured clothes,

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they had sequins, they had plastic bits.

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And these outfits were so heavy

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that it used to take two or three of them to get them off

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and put them back on again and hang them up.

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I particularly remember Leeds. I just couldn't believe it.

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I'd never seen an act be that professional

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when it came to the fact they had no audience, no atmosphere.

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You honestly wouldn't tell whether they were playing

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in front of 100,000 or in front of 100, and it was amazing to me.

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It was really quite a spectacular show.

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I'd never seen confetti cannons, and that kind of stuff,

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which they were using at that time.

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CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

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Although their first UK tour failed to sell out,

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it helped gain the band their first UK top ten single.

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Taken from the album Commodores, and written by Lionel,

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the lyrics were his response to the pressures

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and expectations of touring.

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It's now one of his best-loved ballads.

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Someone had just given me a book with 366 pages in it,

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and it described where we were going to be for the next year.

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Every day for the next year, and I kept thinking,

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"Why would anybody put chains on me? I've paid my dues to make it.

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"Everybody wants me to be what they want me to be.

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"I'm not happy when I try to fake it. Leave me alone."

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And I thought for a moment,

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"Hmm, everything is great about this lyrically except 'leave me alone'."

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# Why in the world would anybody put chains on me?

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# Tell me why?

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# I've paid my dues to make it

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# Everybody wants me to be what they want me to be

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# I'm not happy when I try to fake it

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# No

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# Ooh, that's why I'm easy... #

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Surprisingly, Easy didn't make it to number one at the time.

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# I'm easy like Sunday morning... #

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30 years later, it's one of the most covered songs ever,

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from boy band Westlife to Californian rockers Faith No More,

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to hundreds of budding pop stars on YouTube.

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# ..Mo-o-orning. #

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# Why in the world would anybody put chains on me?

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# I've paid my dues to make it... #

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# Everybody wants me to be what they want me to be... #

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With the success of Easy,

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the band's international reputation was growing.

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They were now building a following in Europe, Africa and Japan.

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But they were still a long way from achieving superstardom.

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# I'm easy like Sunday morning... #

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They recognised there was a kind of missing ingredient.

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They actually wanted to be a household name.

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They were starting to talk about whether or not

0:21:430:21:46

they didn't need to push one person forward as the face of the band

0:21:460:21:50

so that people could kind of identify with,

0:21:500:21:53

and thought that might help them make that next step.

0:21:530:21:56

They wanted to be the black Beatles.

0:21:560:21:58

I always remember Lionel for being a charmer.

0:21:580:22:01

Even then, he knew how to work a room, he remembered everyone's name.

0:22:010:22:05

He was just, he was very, very effective

0:22:050:22:10

and very impressive in that sense.

0:22:100:22:12

Now the face of the band, it was Lionel's music,

0:22:130:22:17

and specifically his ability to write love songs,

0:22:170:22:20

that would take the Commodores to the top of the American charts.

0:22:200:22:23

# Lady

0:22:230:22:26

# Morning's just a moment away

0:22:280:22:34

# And I'm without you once again... #

0:22:340:22:41

They hadn't really crossed over.

0:22:410:22:44

They had been thought of as another funky band and not as,

0:22:440:22:48

necessarily, pop hit-makers.

0:22:480:22:50

What it took was some ballads, that's really what I think transformed that situation.

0:22:500:22:56

# I wonder if you need me now?

0:22:560:23:04

# We play the games that people play... #

0:23:050:23:11

'Corny, syrupy, sappy, schmaltzy.'

0:23:110:23:15

These words have covered my career forever.

0:23:150:23:19

But I have found that, over the years,

0:23:190:23:21

the only word that does not go out of style is love.

0:23:210:23:24

# I know deep in my heart... #

0:23:240:23:27

He writes honest stuff

0:23:270:23:30

about good people,

0:23:300:23:33

about honest situations and relationships.

0:23:330:23:37

# Remembering the pain if I must say... #

0:23:370:23:42

When people are writing songs sometimes,

0:23:420:23:44

say, the sun comes in front of the moon,

0:23:440:23:48

and when the star sparkles it hits the glow of the thing

0:23:480:23:51

and warms your face, you know?

0:23:510:23:52

Whereas sometimes it can be much easier, more direct,

0:23:520:23:55

and more of a connection when you say, "I love you."

0:23:550:23:58

# I do love you... #

0:23:580:24:01

'Love would fall in three categories.'

0:24:010:24:04

You lost someone, you found someone, or you're lonely. That's love.

0:24:040:24:08

# Still. #

0:24:080:24:11

He puts the ballad together.

0:24:170:24:20

He's like Smokey Robinson, he's a poet,

0:24:200:24:22

and the way he styles his phrases and his clever play of words.

0:24:220:24:29

# Somehow I know deep in my heart

0:24:290:24:37

# You needed me

0:24:370:24:43

# Cos I needed you so desperately

0:24:430:24:51

# But we were too blind to see

0:24:540:24:58

# But then most of all

0:25:000:25:06

# I do love you

0:25:060:25:12

# Still. #

0:25:180:25:20

How do you write a good song?

0:25:260:25:27

Well, first of all, it's where do you want to take it?

0:25:270:25:30

Do you want to take it from the heart,

0:25:300:25:33

or do you want to take it from the organic,

0:25:330:25:37

or do you just want to take it from safety?

0:25:370:25:41

And I think Lionel took it from the heart.

0:25:410:25:44

See, he's the master of conversational music.

0:25:440:25:50

He doesn't write glossy lyrics, he writes conversations,

0:25:500:25:54

and I think that's what makes his stuff so special.

0:25:540:25:57

# You're once, twice

0:25:570:26:02

# Three times a lady

0:26:040:26:09

# And I love you... #

0:26:090:26:16

My father got up and said, "I'd like to give a toast to your mother.

0:26:160:26:19

"She's a fantastic lady, she's an incredible mother

0:26:190:26:22

"and a wonderful friend, and I just want to say thank you

0:26:220:26:26

"for being there for me for all these years."

0:26:260:26:29

# And I love yo-o-ou

0:26:290:26:37

# I lo-o-o-ove you... #

0:26:390:26:44

I'd learned a lot about soul, as opposed to technique,

0:26:440:26:51

he possesses both.

0:26:510:26:53

But, for me, I learned that's it's got to come from here,

0:26:530:26:57

you've got to care what you're singing about,

0:26:570:26:59

and sing what you care about.

0:26:590:27:01

# With every beat of my heart... #

0:27:010:27:08

Released in 1978,

0:27:080:27:11

Three Times A Lady is the song

0:27:110:27:13

that made the Commodores international superstars.

0:27:130:27:17

A number one in the UK, and in the Billboard Hot 100,

0:27:170:27:21

it was a worldwide hit,

0:27:210:27:23

with the press now hailing them "the black Beatles."

0:27:230:27:27

By that point, Lionel had been very much pushed as the front person.

0:27:280:27:32

He was very much the key writer, especially on those ballads.

0:27:320:27:37

You know, Three Times A Lady, Sail On, Still,

0:27:370:27:40

which was very much the vein that the Commodores had started to move into.

0:27:400:27:45

So, I think you could see that Lionel was going to be

0:27:450:27:49

kind of spun off from the band.

0:27:490:27:51

# Sail on

0:27:530:27:56

# Honey

0:27:560:27:59

# Good times never felt so good

0:28:010:28:06

# Sail on

0:28:060:28:09

# Honey

0:28:090:28:12

# Good times never felt so good

0:28:140:28:19

# Sail on... #

0:28:190:28:21

With seven top ten hits, including three number ones,

0:28:210:28:25

the Commodores were now the top black act in the USA.

0:28:250:28:29

But their 1980 album Heroes received a cool reception

0:28:300:28:35

from critics and public alike.

0:28:350:28:37

They did a tour in America,

0:28:370:28:40

and it was the first time a Commodores tour was not successful.

0:28:400:28:43

And, of course, with any band,

0:28:430:28:46

when they've been as big as they were,

0:28:460:28:49

the first time there's a lack of success,

0:28:490:28:52

that's when you tend to get strife.

0:28:520:28:54

There's a group dynamic, having been in about six groups,

0:28:540:28:59

that you really have about five or six good years

0:28:590:29:03

before one guy starts saying, "My wife doesn't want me to travel anymore,"

0:29:030:29:07

and another says, "How come you get to stay in a better room than I am?

0:29:070:29:11

"The group's paying for mine..."

0:29:110:29:13

And it just starts falling apart, piece by piece.

0:29:130:29:17

# Lady

0:29:170:29:20

# You bring me up when I'm down

0:29:200:29:24

# And maybe... #

0:29:250:29:27

With the band keen to try out different ideas

0:29:270:29:30

and find their sound for the new decade,

0:29:300:29:32

there was little room for Lionel's ballads.

0:29:320:29:35

I became this elephant...

0:29:350:29:38

in the middle of this house of cards, if you will.

0:29:380:29:42

It...It was...I was just not...

0:29:420:29:46

I tried to fit in in every possible way.

0:29:460:29:49

I even bought, "Here's another hit record,"

0:29:490:29:51

and it got to the point, "We don't want the hit record."

0:29:510:29:54

In a group like that, you audition your songs.

0:29:540:29:57

You come in and you say, "Do you like this song?"

0:29:570:30:00

They say, "No." That song's gone. A little part of your heart is gone

0:30:000:30:04

because there must have been some reason to start writing that

0:30:040:30:07

and I think that's what bothered him most.

0:30:070:30:10

With the Commodores turning away his music,

0:30:100:30:14

an approach from country superstar Kenny Rogers asking Lionel

0:30:140:30:17

to write a song for him to record,

0:30:170:30:19

could hardly have come at a better time.

0:30:190:30:22

# Lady

0:30:260:30:29

# I'm your knight in shining armour

0:30:290:30:33

# And I love you

0:30:330:30:36

# You have made me what I am

0:30:360:30:40

# And I am yours

0:30:400:30:45

# In my eyes

0:30:450:30:49

# I see no-one else but you

0:30:490:30:53

# There's no other love like our love

0:30:540:31:00

# And yes

0:31:000:31:03

# Oh yes

0:31:030:31:04

# I'll always want you with me

0:31:040:31:08

# I've waited for you

0:31:080:31:10

# For so long... #

0:31:100:31:15

When he produced Lady, he said he made more money

0:31:160:31:19

off of producing, writing and publishing

0:31:190:31:22

than he had made with the Commodores the whole ten years he'd been there

0:31:220:31:26

cos it was a whole new world.

0:31:260:31:28

As well as reaching number one on America's Country Music Chart,

0:31:280:31:32

Lady also topped the Adult Contemporary Chart,

0:31:320:31:35

the Billboard Hot 100 and the Black Singles Chart.

0:31:350:31:39

With members of the Commodores making up the backing band,

0:31:390:31:42

the song received two Grammy Award nominations.

0:31:420:31:45

# Cos my love

0:31:460:31:48

# There's something

0:31:510:31:53

# I want you to know... #

0:31:530:31:58

Following the success of Lady,

0:31:580:32:00

Lionel was asked to write the theme song

0:32:000:32:02

for a new Franco Zeffirelli film starring Brooke Shields.

0:32:020:32:06

He offered a song which had been rejected by the Commodores.

0:32:060:32:09

The song was Endless Love.

0:32:090:32:13

# You know I don't mind...

0:32:130:32:16

# You know I don't mind... #

0:32:160:32:21

His duet with Motown stablemate Diana Ross

0:32:230:32:26

became the label's biggest selling single,

0:32:260:32:29

staying at number one on the Billboard Hot 100

0:32:290:32:32

for nine weeks.

0:32:320:32:35

# This love I have inside

0:32:350:32:40

# And I'll give it all to you... #

0:32:400:32:44

One morning I woke up to the radio station in Tuskegee, Alabama,

0:32:440:32:49

listening to Endless Love, Lionel Richie and Diana Ross. Who?!

0:32:490:32:54

Lionel Richie and who?!

0:32:570:32:59

Benny always understood that Lionel would go forward.

0:32:590:33:03

But wouldn't it be nice if you could stay together as a unit?

0:33:050:33:10

In an attempt to keep Lionel on board, the Commodores' manager,

0:33:110:33:15

Benny Ashburn, offered him the chance to record a solo album

0:33:150:33:19

while remaining in the band.

0:33:190:33:21

# Girl

0:33:240:33:26

# Tell me only this

0:33:260:33:28

# That I have your heart

0:33:290:33:32

# For always... #

0:33:340:33:37

In 1982, Motown released Truly,

0:33:380:33:41

the first single from Lionel's self-titled debut album,

0:33:410:33:45

the label delaying the release of the next Commodores album

0:33:450:33:49

to launch him as a solo act.

0:33:490:33:51

# And forever

0:33:540:33:58

# I will be your lover

0:34:000:34:06

# And I feel if you... #

0:34:070:34:12

By the time Lionel had finished recording the album in August 1982,

0:34:120:34:16

Benny Ashburn, the father of the Commodores, had died.

0:34:160:34:21

Lionel dedicated the album to Benny and the Commodores.

0:34:210:34:24

# Truly

0:34:240:34:29

# Truly in love

0:34:290:34:32

# With you girl

0:34:320:34:36

# I'm truly

0:34:360:34:43

# Head over heels with your love

0:34:430:34:49

# I need you

0:34:510:34:57

# And with your love

0:34:580:35:00

# I am free

0:35:000:35:05

# And truly

0:35:050:35:11

# You know you're all right

0:35:110:35:16

# With me... #

0:35:180:35:26

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

0:35:270:35:30

With his first solo release, Lionel was back at the top of the charts.

0:35:300:35:34

But his time with the Commodores was at an end.

0:35:340:35:37

He made an exit in front of 22,000 people out in Texas.

0:35:370:35:42

After the third or the fourth song in the show,

0:35:420:35:45

he couldn't sing any more.

0:35:450:35:48

And the next night, we're in Miami, Florida,

0:35:480:35:53

and he didn't perform. Then I knew something was up.

0:35:530:35:58

And it turned out that Richie wanted to pursue his own career.

0:35:580:36:02

It was a very difficult decision for Lionel. These were his friends.

0:36:020:36:06

They weren't very happy about him leaving.

0:36:060:36:09

He had a manager already that was a lovely guy

0:36:090:36:15

and Lionel was very reluctant about leaving.

0:36:150:36:18

Lionel and the Commodores would never share a stage again.

0:36:180:36:23

Like their role models, The Beatles, the band's ideals of friendship,

0:36:230:36:27

music and creativity seemed long forgotten.

0:36:270:36:30

The band continues to this day

0:36:300:36:32

but it's never achieved the success of those early years with Lionel.

0:36:320:36:38

# Well my friends

0:36:380:36:39

# The time has come... #

0:36:390:36:42

He decided that he really had to leave the Commodores.

0:36:420:36:47

He wanted a solo career.

0:36:470:36:48

I immediately started to facilitate that. We had very quick success.

0:36:480:36:54

Lionel's first solo album was a hit worldwide

0:36:550:36:58

and confirmed his status as a solo artist.

0:36:580:37:02

His second album was even bigger, selling over eight million copies

0:37:020:37:05

and receiving favourable critical reviews

0:37:050:37:08

for its blend of up-tempo numbers and ballads.

0:37:080:37:12

Can't Slow Down, released in 1983, reached number one

0:37:120:37:16

on both sides of the Atlantic and won two Grammy awards.

0:37:160:37:21

# All night long

0:37:210:37:23

# All night

0:37:230:37:25

# All night long

0:37:250:37:28

# All night

0:37:280:37:30

# All night long... #

0:37:300:37:32

Lionel was now up there with the superstars of the '80s...

0:37:320:37:36

Michael Jackson, his sister, Janet, Madonna,

0:37:360:37:39

Bruce Springsteen and Prince.

0:37:390:37:41

# Once you get started

0:37:410:37:43

# You can't sit down

0:37:430:37:45

# Come join the fun

0:37:480:37:50

# It's a merry-go-round

0:37:500:37:52

# Everyone's dancing

0:37:560:37:58

# Their troubles away... #

0:37:580:38:01

Launched in 1981, MTV was now the shop window for pop music.

0:38:010:38:07

The music video channel had access to a huge audience.

0:38:070:38:10

But at first, it was aimed primarily at white rock music fans.

0:38:100:38:14

We had broken the barrier.

0:38:140:38:16

Michael Jackson, Beat It

0:38:160:38:19

and Billie Jean, two videos thrown down in front of MTV

0:38:190:38:23

and say, "Go ahead, put them in. Play this. Look at this.

0:38:230:38:28

Tell us you're going to keep this station for white, suburban kids

0:38:280:38:31

and they're not going to get a chance to listen or see this music.

0:38:310:38:34

# Playing in the shadows

0:38:340:38:39

# Just you and I

0:38:390:38:42

# Till the morning light... #

0:38:420:38:45

Following in Michael's footsteps,

0:38:510:38:54

Lionel was one of the first black artists

0:38:540:38:56

to gain airplay on the channel.

0:38:560:38:58

# So in love

0:39:000:39:02

# You and me

0:39:020:39:04

# On the boulevard

0:39:040:39:06

# Wild and free

0:39:060:39:07

# Giving all we got

0:39:070:39:09

# We laid it down

0:39:090:39:12

# Taken every shot

0:39:120:39:13

# Took the town... #

0:39:130:39:16

With the MTV age, we have

0:39:160:39:20

a very limited category, a very limited number of black artists

0:39:200:39:24

that are standing in for black music.

0:39:240:39:26

But then, also, as Lionel Richie develops his own style,

0:39:260:39:30

MTV and also promoters and the corporations

0:39:300:39:33

that are running these labels also whiten up his music a little.

0:39:330:39:38

My favourite Lionel Richie songs are favourites of mine

0:39:380:39:42

more because of what we did with them

0:39:420:39:44

than maybe the songs themselves.

0:39:440:39:47

# I've been alone with you

0:39:470:39:49

# Inside my mind... #

0:39:490:39:54

When the video to his 1984 single Hello was first shown on MTV,

0:39:540:39:59

the storyline provoked different reactions.

0:39:590:40:02

It remains one of the most memorable videos from the '80s

0:40:020:40:06

and still gets people talking.

0:40:060:40:08

# Hello

0:40:080:40:12

# Is it me you're looking for?

0:40:120:40:17

Bob Giraldi came to me and said,

0:40:170:40:20

"We have a lovely actress and she's a teacher student.

0:40:200:40:23

"Oh my God, she loves you. and my God, what a great story.

0:40:230:40:27

"We're going to make her blind."

0:40:270:40:29

'I thought that was the worst suggestion ever on the planet.'

0:40:290:40:33

# Cos you know just what to say... #

0:40:330:40:36

I had this vision coming from the lyrics,

0:40:360:40:39

"Hello, is it me you are looking for?",

0:40:390:40:42

that it was a love story between an instructor and a blind girl.

0:40:420:40:47

# I love you... #

0:40:470:40:50

Hello is one of the most beautiful recordings of all time.

0:40:500:40:54

I love the way that song is written, the way it's produced,

0:40:540:40:57

the way he sings out with such emotion.

0:40:570:40:59

I remember the video with the blind girl.

0:40:590:41:02

It's just really incredible.

0:41:020:41:04

The promo video for Hello was appalling. Absolutely appalling.

0:41:040:41:08

My God, you've never seen anything so gross. Anyway...

0:41:080:41:12

I mean, that sculpture was so dire.

0:41:130:41:16

I said, "Bob, the bust looks nothing like me, it's kind of off."

0:41:160:41:24

He says, "Lionel, she's blind."

0:41:240:41:26

To this day, people will not remember the name of the song.

0:41:260:41:29

They'll say, "What's the song with the blind girl in it?"

0:41:290:41:33

And that's the hook.

0:41:330:41:34

# Cos I wonder where you are

0:41:340:41:38

# And I wonder what you do

0:41:380:41:41

# Are you somewhere feeling lonely

0:41:410:41:45

# Or is someone loving you?

0:41:450:41:48

# Tell me how to win your heart

0:41:480:41:52

# For I haven't got a clue

0:41:520:41:57

# But let me start by saying

0:41:570:42:02

# I love you. #

0:42:020:42:04

Although the video for Hello divided opinion,

0:42:040:42:07

the track is regarded by many as Lionel's signature song.

0:42:070:42:10

While a long way from his funk and soul roots, it shares the approach

0:42:100:42:14

to song writing he'd developed with the Commodores.

0:42:140:42:18

Emotive lyrics and simple, unforgettable melodies.

0:42:180:42:23

I could take the blame for co-writing one of the only songs

0:42:230:42:26

on the album that wasn't a hit.

0:42:260:42:27

I have written songs that are so damn complicated

0:42:270:42:30

that even I can't sing them and I wrote them.

0:42:300:42:33

He just, I guess...

0:42:330:42:37

He's kind of like Neil Diamond, he made the most out of three chords.

0:42:370:42:41

Literally, Lionel's songs are so simple.

0:42:410:42:44

That song that I wrote with Lionel...

0:42:440:42:46

It's very complicated

0:42:520:42:53

and probably not the easiest song to sing along with. As opposed to...

0:42:530:42:58

# Hello. #

0:42:580:42:59

Jeez, Lionel. Or...

0:42:590:43:02

# You're once

0:43:020:43:04

# Twice

0:43:040:43:06

# Three times a lady. #

0:43:060:43:09

I mean, it's just so simple

0:43:090:43:10

and you hear it and you go, why didn't I think of that?

0:43:100:43:13

# All night long

0:43:130:43:16

# All night... #

0:43:160:43:18

Lionel's status as a pop superstar was confirmed in 1984

0:43:180:43:22

when he was invited to perform

0:43:220:43:24

at the closing ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

0:43:240:43:29

My name changed from Lionel Richie to Lionel Richie All Night Long

0:43:290:43:33

in every country in the world just because of that one song.

0:43:330:43:37

Six months later, Lionel Richie hosted the American Music Awards.

0:43:400:43:44

He was on the cover of TV Guide that week.

0:43:440:43:48

He won six American Music Awards

0:43:480:43:50

and about three weeks later, he won three Grammy awards

0:43:500:43:53

and was on the Grammys. Those multiple exposures

0:43:530:43:56

in that concentrated period of time exploded Lionel's career.

0:43:560:44:02

Later the same year,

0:44:020:44:03

when Harry Belafonte called for an African American response

0:44:030:44:07

to the famine in Ethiopia, Lionel was the first person he approached.

0:44:070:44:12

Now in a position to make things happen,

0:44:120:44:14

Lionel co-wrote We Are The World with Michael Jackson.

0:44:140:44:18

The single, produced by Quincy Jones,

0:44:180:44:21

was recorded in January 1985

0:44:210:44:24

on the night of the American Music Awards which Lionel was hosting.

0:44:240:44:27

# We'll make a better day

0:44:270:44:29

# Just you and me

0:44:290:44:31

# We are the world... #

0:44:310:44:35

Quincy was in charge, there was no question about that,

0:44:350:44:38

but the person you saw everywhere that night, moving people around,

0:44:380:44:42

making suggestions, just in control, was Lionel.

0:44:420:44:46

When the other person comes in, when you duet with someone,

0:44:460:44:49

when your part comes up, lean in.

0:44:490:44:51

'It was organised chaos.'

0:44:510:44:53

We had five different groups all together trying to work on...

0:44:530:44:57

Some over here in Swahili, some with the gospel version...

0:44:570:45:00

My job was to, kind of, keep it policed.

0:45:020:45:06

I thought it'll never happen tonight but surely, it came together.

0:45:100:45:16

# There comes a time

0:45:160:45:18

# When we heed a certain call

0:45:190:45:22

-# When the world Must come together as one.

-#

0:45:220:45:27

It was very significant for black America

0:45:270:45:30

but it was also significant for white America

0:45:300:45:33

to see all of those artists together on the stage

0:45:330:45:37

and to see people who previously you felt like had only got their just do

0:45:370:45:43

in black circuits, but here they are on a worldwide stage.

0:45:430:45:47

This meant so much to us as a people.

0:45:470:45:49

# It's true We'll make a better day

0:45:490:45:51

# Just you and me

0:45:510:45:54

# Hooo!

0:45:540:45:55

# We are the world

0:45:550:45:58

# We are the children

0:45:580:46:02

To date, We Are The World, the single and subsequent album,

0:46:020:46:05

has raised more than 60 million for charity.

0:46:050:46:09

Hot on its heels,

0:46:100:46:12

Lionel was asked to write the theme song for Hollywood blockbuster White Nights.

0:46:120:46:16

# Say you Say me

0:46:220:46:25

# Say it for always

0:46:280:46:31

# That's the way it should be. #

0:46:320:46:35

Say You Say Me delivered Lionel his ninth US number one.

0:46:350:46:38

But for some long-time fans,

0:46:380:46:40

his music was heading in the wrong direction.

0:46:400:46:43

I lost interest in him.

0:46:430:46:44

I think the song that did it was Say You Say Me.

0:46:440:46:48

When I heard that I was like, you know what,

0:46:480:46:50

this is a little too middle of the road for me!

0:46:500:46:53

# Say you Say me

0:46:530:46:55

# Say it together... #

0:46:570:47:00

For all the talk of selling out,

0:47:000:47:03

Lionel walked away with an Oscar for Best Original Song.

0:47:030:47:08

He followed it up with a dance floor filler from the same album.

0:47:080:47:11

# Oh, what a feeling

0:47:110:47:15

# When you're dancing on the ceiling... #

0:47:150:47:18

Inspired by a Fred Astaire dance routine,

0:47:180:47:21

the video became an instant MTV classic.

0:47:210:47:23

# Oh, oh, what a feeling

0:47:270:47:30

# When you're dancing on the ceiling. #

0:47:300:47:32

We used techniques that had been used back in the '30s and '40s

0:47:320:47:37

to film Fred Astaire and others

0:47:370:47:39

coming up and dancing around a room.

0:47:390:47:42

We had Stanley Donen direct the video.

0:47:420:47:45

He was one of the great directors of all time.

0:47:450:47:48

In 1986, Lionel embarked on a world tour,

0:47:480:47:51

which would keep him on the road for more than a year,

0:47:510:47:54

playing to over 1.5 million people in the United States alone.

0:47:540:47:59

His three solo albums had sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.

0:47:590:48:03

But despite his commercial success, Lionel craved more.

0:48:030:48:07

It's hard for artists as they get really successful

0:48:070:48:10

not to yearningly look to be something else.

0:48:100:48:14

He was a great songwriter, a great live performer,

0:48:140:48:19

and a straight commercial pop artist.

0:48:190:48:22

And after a while, I think he became a little unhappy with that.

0:48:220:48:28

He had it and he wanted more.

0:48:280:48:29

The three top acts at the charts in the early '80s

0:48:310:48:34

were Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and Prince.

0:48:340:48:37

And they were very competitive with each other

0:48:370:48:39

and they worried about what the other one was doing

0:48:390:48:43

and there was a certain jealousy of the cachet that Prince had

0:48:430:48:48

to be more of a hipper artist, that his music was harder edged

0:48:480:48:52

and that he was doing experimental kind of things.

0:48:520:48:56

MUSIC: "When Doves Cry" by Prince

0:48:560:48:57

Lionel, edgy? That's not possible.

0:48:570:49:01

If I was producing him now, I would say, just put that away.

0:49:010:49:05

You have the thing that everybody wants.

0:49:050:49:08

Everybody wants what Lionel Richie has.

0:49:080:49:11

Like I said, he wrote songs that the whole world sings.

0:49:110:49:14

After five lucrative years together,

0:49:140:49:17

Lionel ditched his manager, Ken Kragen.

0:49:170:49:20

He left me to go to Madonna's manager, Freddy DeMann.

0:49:200:49:25

The only problem was he had some other issues in his life

0:49:250:49:30

and he kind of disappeared from the scene.

0:49:300:49:32

It made me look kind of good.

0:49:320:49:34

Everybody thought, "He's no longer with you, he's not..."

0:49:340:49:37

but there were a lot of other factors involved.

0:49:370:49:40

# All the walls are falling down. #

0:49:410:49:44

It was Lionel's private life, which he'd always been at pains to protect,

0:49:450:49:49

that now became the focus of his attention.

0:49:490:49:52

I received a phonecall from my father and he said,

0:49:530:49:57

"Son, I'm going to see the doctor. I want you to come with me."

0:49:570:50:01

This is a military man, who - you have to understand -

0:50:010:50:04

I've never seen my father sick a day in his life.

0:50:040:50:07

This is a man that would always say to me, "Shake it off, boy. Shake it off."

0:50:070:50:11

I've never had him ever lean on me.

0:50:110:50:16

The record company called and said, "It's time to go back to work."

0:50:160:50:19

I couldn't do it.

0:50:190:50:21

In 1987, Lionel took time out from his career

0:50:210:50:24

to look after his father in Tuskegee.

0:50:240:50:27

SONG: "Love Oh Love"

0:50:310:50:32

The following year, his private life hit the headlines

0:50:340:50:37

with tabloid revelations of an affair.

0:50:370:50:40

His marriage to his childhood sweetheart Brenda fell apart.

0:50:400:50:44

It was a time to take stock.

0:50:440:50:46

How many Christmases did I miss? Wow. How many Thanksgivings did I miss?

0:50:470:50:54

And now you start thinking back 17 years in a row,

0:50:540:50:58

from the time I was with the Commodores

0:50:580:51:00

to this wonderful All Night Long, Dancing on the Ceiling.

0:51:000:51:04

Hmmm.

0:51:040:51:05

And I'd never really stopped to take a look over my shoulder to see that.

0:51:050:51:10

# Make it clear today. #

0:51:100:51:15

After five years out of the spotlight,

0:51:180:51:21

Lionel returned to the public eye in 1992.

0:51:210:51:24

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:51:240:51:25

-Thank you.

-Thank you for coming.

0:51:250:51:27

Where have you been for the last five years?

0:51:320:51:35

It's been five years of... I started out with a vacation.

0:51:350:51:38

The greatest feeling in the world is after 14 years of album, tour, album, tour,

0:51:380:51:43

it's time for a vacation.

0:51:430:51:45

Well, I took maybe a six-week vacation. My father became very ill.

0:51:450:51:50

I had about two and half years of his life before he died.

0:51:500:51:53

Nothing... It was just gradual, nothing serious,

0:51:530:51:56

other than just dying - I guess that's pretty heavy.

0:51:560:51:58

From there, we went to throat surgery for a while. That scared me to death.

0:51:580:52:03

When someone walks up to you and says,

0:52:030:52:05

"Lionel, it's very minor surgery but you may never be able to sing again."

0:52:050:52:10

And then a divorce, the end of my marriage.

0:52:100:52:12

So I'm so happy to be back here with you.

0:52:120:52:15

# Times are hard

0:52:170:52:19

# Spirit's weak

0:52:190:52:21

# Oh yeah

0:52:210:52:23

# Everything seems to be going wrong

0:52:230:52:27

# Outlook's bleak

0:52:270:52:29

# You know, I fooled around

0:52:310:52:34

# Playing the field... #

0:52:340:52:37

My absolute joy is in what I do.

0:52:370:52:42

I'm now doing this because I like to do it.

0:52:420:52:45

# Hold on to the love We have together. #

0:52:450:52:49

In 1993, he signed to Mercury Records,

0:52:490:52:52

ending a 20-year association with Motown, the label he'd started with,

0:52:520:52:56

as a backline sax player in the Commodores.

0:52:560:53:00

Two years later, he married second wife Diane

0:53:000:53:04

and they had two children together, but the marriage failed in 2003.

0:53:040:53:09

Meanwhile Nicole, his adopted daughter from his first marriage,

0:53:100:53:14

found her own fame and a very public drug problem.

0:53:140:53:17

Kids don't come with manuals.

0:53:200:53:22

Marriage does not come with an instruction manual.

0:53:220:53:25

You want to get it right,

0:53:250:53:27

but you keep failing miserably at certain areas.

0:53:270:53:30

# I don't want to lose you now. #

0:53:300:53:33

Lionel's professional success has, it seems, come at a price.

0:53:330:53:38

When I'm into an album or if I'm into a tour, I either have to focus all the way or I can't do it.

0:53:390:53:44

You can always tell when I'm putting full force back into my career.

0:53:440:53:48

My personal life goes straight to hell.

0:53:480:53:51

Since his come-back, Lionel has released eight studio albums,

0:53:520:53:56

performed sell-out tours and remains a regular guest on chat shows.

0:53:560:54:01

But to date, he's not made it back to the top of the charts.

0:54:010:54:04

# I love you so

0:54:040:54:06

# And I don't wanna lose you baby

0:54:060:54:10

# Don't wanna lose you

0:54:100:54:12

# Don't wanna lose you baby... #

0:54:120:54:15

He will have influenced others.

0:54:150:54:17

You talk about how the Commodores watched The Beatles

0:54:170:54:20

but there will be plenty of young artists who watched the Commodores

0:54:200:54:24

and who watched Lionel and who wanted to be him

0:54:240:54:27

or wanted to learn lessons from how they succeeded.

0:54:270:54:30

More recently, he's been happy to share his experience

0:54:300:54:33

and his songs with a new generation of singers.

0:54:330:54:36

Back over to Lionel.

0:54:360:54:38

# That's why I'm easy

0:54:380:54:41

# Ah, ah, ah

0:54:410:54:44

# I'm easy like Sunday morning. #

0:54:440:54:48

Over to Lemar.

0:54:490:54:51

# I wanna be high...#

0:54:510:54:54

Lemar was absolutely electrifying from day one.

0:54:540:54:59

And as I told him, I don't really care whether you win or lose.

0:54:590:55:04

# I wanna be free

0:55:040:55:07

# Just me...#

0:55:070:55:10

He said, just don't win. And I was like, huh?

0:55:100:55:13

He said, if you win, the pressure's on you. You have to deliver.

0:55:130:55:17

But if you forget about winning, just enjoy the experience,

0:55:170:55:21

learn something from it and when you come out,

0:55:210:55:24

just focus on the music and try and find an identity.

0:55:240:55:26

Find who you are and what you're about.

0:55:260:55:30

# I know it sounds funny But I just can't stand the pain

0:55:300:55:34

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:55:340:55:35

The air of confidence, you know, the relaxed manner, you know,

0:55:350:55:39

was for me the biggest thing that I took from that performance.

0:55:390:55:43

I was like, wow!

0:55:430:55:44

I'm there slogging along and he's just like, "This is easy".

0:55:440:55:47

# Yes, I begged, stole And I borrowed

0:55:490:55:55

# Yeah, ooh

0:55:550:55:57

# That's why I'm easy. #

0:55:570:55:59

He's grown so much in his music and he's in such a better place

0:56:010:56:06

than he's been for a long time.

0:56:060:56:09

His marriage and his divorce was bringing him down,

0:56:090:56:11

his mom dying, his dad passing away.

0:56:110:56:14

All that stuff weighs heavy on a country boy.

0:56:150:56:19

And he is a country boy at heart.

0:56:190:56:21

But I think he's kind of found a place for himself now.

0:56:210:56:24

# Why in the world would anybody put chains on me? #

0:56:240:56:29

Four decades after his parents paid for him to go to Tuskegee Institute,

0:56:320:56:36

Lionel still hasn't made it as a lawyer.

0:56:360:56:39

Nor is he writing number one hits anymore.

0:56:390:56:42

But there's no doubting his place in the history of popular music.

0:56:420:56:46

The classic songs he wrote in the '70s and '80s have

0:56:470:56:50

and still serve him well.

0:56:500:56:53

# That's why I'm easy

0:56:530:56:56

# I'm easy like Sunday morning. #

0:56:580:57:03

He's always had this need to go back to his roots

0:57:030:57:07

cos I think that's what he's all about.

0:57:070:57:09

It is not about money to him.

0:57:090:57:11

It's about having this stuff pent up inside him

0:57:110:57:14

that must have happened in Tuskegee.

0:57:140:57:17

Over four decades after starting out with the Commodores,

0:57:170:57:21

Lionel's been back in the studio re-visiting his classic songs.

0:57:210:57:24

He's recorded duets with some of country music's biggest stars,

0:57:240:57:28

including Shania Twain, Willie Nelson and close friend, Kenny Rogers.

0:57:280:57:33

The album's title - quite simply, Tuskegee.

0:57:330:57:37

# My endless love. #

0:57:390:57:42

I was in the bank a little while ago

0:57:430:57:45

and a lady I thought was daydreaming but she wasn't,

0:57:450:57:48

she was following the lyrics of Three Times A Lady,

0:57:480:57:51

a classic Lionel song,

0:57:510:57:53

so you've got to be impressed with the way his music transcends time.

0:57:530:57:58

His music transcends generations, it transcends race,

0:57:580:58:03

it transcends nationalities.

0:58:030:58:05

His music is an international music.

0:58:050:58:07

# What a feeling

0:58:090:58:13

# Dancing on the ceiling. #

0:58:130:58:14

Someone asks, "In your next life, who do you want to come back as?"

0:58:140:58:18

My answer - Lionel Richie.

0:58:180:58:20

# Oh, what a feeling

0:58:260:58:29

# When you're dancing on the ceiling... #

0:58:290:58:32

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0:58:360:58:40

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0:58:400:58:44

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