He may not be everyone’s cup of tea but Lionel Richie certainly knows how to write a song as his lengthy and determinedly commercial catalogue, combining soul, country, and pop, attests. This highly enjoyable memoir proves that he also knows how to tell a story.
Emerging from a comfortable background in Tuskegee, Alabama, something he refers to almost as a running joke, poo-pooing the ridiculous notion that artistic talent only flourishes in hardship, Richie found fame with his college band, The Commodores. Taking their name directly from the dictionary, the band made waves locally then nationally because they “put on an unforgettable show”. Richie captures the excitement of their rising success as they “navigate the hustle”, including being taken to heart by the New York demimonde where the naive young sax player assumes a call girl works for the phone company.
Eventually Richie’s songwriting supremacy leads to a parting of the ways and after his new manager asks him, “How famous do you want to be?” his star goes supernova in the 1980s with the 20 million-selling Can’t Slow Down. He confirms that the “African dialect” in megahit All Night Long was made up after the diversity of languages on that continent was explained to him, and that he destroyed the bust from the Hello video because he didn’t think it looked like him. After he performed to a TV audience of 2.6 billion to close the 1984 Olympics, his days of walking anonymously down the street were over.
Richie emerges as a likable fellow, the kind of man who’d adopt future reality star Nicole because she needed to be, laugh at Elizabeth Taylor being late for dinner because she was scratching lottery cards in the limo, feed Prince sweet potato pie, and be as proud of his father singing The Commodores’ great Just To Be Close To You each morning while shaving as he is of any of his other achievements.
Truly by Lionel Ritchie: A cut above the usual music memoir
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A born raconteur who ran into everyone from Frank Sinatra to Muhammad Ali to Nelson Mandela, he retains an almost mystical regard for the magical process of conjuring memorable tunes from the ether and doesn’t shy away from discussing racism, money or personal struggles through divorce and depression. A cut above the usual musical memoir and another sure-fire hit.
