Lionel Richie, The #42 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

 

(Continued from Part One)

To this point, Richie had enjoyed nine consecutive Top 10 hits to begin his solo career.  In 1984, Lionel performed "All Night Long" at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

 Richie released the song "Say You, Say Me" from the movie White Nights.  Another triple #1, it went to #1 for four weeks on the Popular chart, sold over one million copies and won an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture.  

That gave Lionel eight #1 songs which he wrote entirely by himself, a Rock Era record until Diane Warren tied him.

 Richie was also nominated at the Academy Awards for a song he co-wrote for the movie The Color Purple, "Miss Celie's Blues".  He teamed with Michael Jackson to write "We Are The World" for USA for Africa with proceeds to benefit victims of famine in South Africa.  "We Are The World" won Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards.

 

In 1986, Richie released the album Dancing on the Ceiling.  The title song, the follow-up single to "Say You Say Me", soared to #2 in both the U.S. and Australia.  Richie spent over $400,000 on the video, which literally has people dancing on the ceiling.  The landmark video used the rotating room effect introduced in the 1951 movie Royal Wedding.

 

The album has gone over four million in sales in the United States alone.  Richie collaborated with Weil again as well as Greg Phillinganes to co-write "Love Will Conquer All".  The song, with Marva King on backing vocals, topped the AC chart and peaked at #9 overall.

 "Ballerina Girl" also hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart (his 11th) and reached #7 overall.  

Richie earned American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Video Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Video (for "Dancing On The Ceiling").

 

It was quite a start to Lionel's solo career--13 straight Top 10's to set a record for Top 10 Hits "Out of the Gate"* and a sensational 11 of those 13 going to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.  "Se La" broke that consecutive Top 10 streak on the Popular chart, although it did reach #5 AC.

          In 1992, Richie released the compilation album Back to Front, a Platinum album.  The new song "Do It To Me" reached #3 Adult Contemporary.

Since then, Lionel has sharply reduced his output of studio recordings and live shows, and, as fast as his solo start was, he has never been able to reach the Top 10 since.  In 1996, he released the album Louder Than Words, which has been certified Gold.

 Another compilation, Truly:  The Love Songs, went Gold in 1997.   In 1998, Lionel released the album Time followed by the 2000 album Renaissance.  The latter yielded "Angel", a nominee for Best Dance Recording at the Grammy Awards.

In 2003, the compilation album The Definitive Collection went Platinum.

 Richie released the album Just for You in 2004, followed by Coming Home in 2006.  Richie was nominated for Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album (for Coming Home) and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "I Call It Love".

In 2008, Richie became the 21st recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award.  The following year, Lionel released the album Just Go.

In 2012, Richie released the album Tuskegee, performing duets of his hits with some of Country's biggest stars, including Kenny Rogers, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain, Willie Nelson, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and Blake Shelton.  The album went to #1 and was nominated for Favorite Country Album at both the American Music Awards and the Billboard Music Awards.  Astonishingly, it was Richie's first Billboard nomination.

Tuskegee has gone over one million in sales.  Richie embarked on his first tour of North America in over a decade in 2013.  In 2015, Lionel performed before over 100,000 fans at the Glastonbury Festival in England.  

Richie has 20 career hits with his first 13 reaching the Top 10 and five going to #1.  He has achieved 28 hits on the AC chart with amazing success--23 Top 10's and 11 #1's.

According to the newspaper The Daily Herald of Utah, Richie's career album sales have gone over 100 million worldwide.

Lionel has won nine American Music Awards from 17 nominations, two Grammy Awards from 11 nominations, one Golden Globe Award out of two nominations and one Academy Award from three nominations and was nominated for a Billboard Music Award and an MTV Video Music Award.