' Dancing on the Ceiling' shattered his marriage. It features Ri chie and friends dancing suspended from the ceiling.Ģ5. Made for the reported cost of $400,000, the video was the most expensive of the time. The video for 'Dancing on the Ceiling' was a record breaker. The search for halal meat while on holiday was best encapsulated in a meme of Richie, with the lyrics changed to "Halal, is it meat you are looking for?"Ģ 4. 'Hello' has been the subject of a popular meme shared by Muslims. Richie greeted him with the famous line: "Hello, is it me you're looking for?"Ģ3. His biggest hit was a joke: Hello, released in 1984, started out as a joke between him and producer Carmichael. Time constraints and the lack of a Swahili translator pushed him to make up the words.Ģ2. The African section in 'All Night Long ' is actually made up. The numbers and accolades don't lie 1983's Can't Slow Down sold more than 20 million copies and won the Grammy Award for A lbum of the Y ear.Ģ1. It was his second solo effort that made Richie a pop phenomenon. Listen carefully to a few tracks o n Richie's solo debut, particularly the minor hit, You Are, and you will hear the backing vocals of a then little-known American singer and future ballad king, Richard Marx.Ģ0. He gave a future ballad king his first big break. His debut single, Truly, won the 1982 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal performance.ġ9. Richie began writing for others in the late 1970s – he composed the second verse to Kenny Roger s' hit song Lady during a bathroom break.ġ8. His activism was motivated by his grandmother, who was diagnosed with the disease in her eighties, but lived until she was 10 3.ġ7. He is a breast cancer campaigner Richie has raised $3.1m for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. By 1978, the Commodores had four platinum and 14 gold records, along with a tour that ra ked in $6.5 million (Dh24m ).ġ6. The track was covered by everyone from Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey to Shania Twain.ġ5. The song was written for the 1981 movie of the same name, and Richie's collaboration with Diana Ross was an international success. Producer James Carmichael, however, insisted the song be used by the group.ġ4. Because the song was written as a w altz, Richie thought it wouldn't fit with the Commodores. 'Three Times a Lady' was written for Frank Sinatra. Tired of going on year-long tours as part of the Commodores, Richie wrote Easy to express how show business was more graft than glamour.ġ3. While he co-wrote the barnstorming Brick House, it was ballads such as Sail On and Easy that defined him as a songwriter.ġ2. This was Richie's main contribution to the Commodores. He credits the song's popularity and the massive payday it yielded, for eventually changing her mind.ġ1. Richie recalled how his grandmother, a churchgoing woman, was outraged by the saucy 1977 funk number. His grandmother initially hated 'Brick House'. Richie would watch and memorise the hand movements of his grandmother, a classically trained pianist, when he was younger. He learnt the piano by watching his grandmother play. Their support slot on that tour in the early '70 s resulted in the Commodores landing a record deal.ĩ. He dropped out of university : When the band became serious, Richie quit college in the second semester of his senior year to pursue music full time. The group was formed in college and was created as a way for its members to kill time and meet girls.ħ. The Commodores was n't supposed to be serious. A shy young man, Richie had to be convinced by band members to switch from saxophone to lead singer.Ħ. Members of Commodores poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, California in 1980. They would go on to merge with a band called the Jays to finally form the Commodores. He considered joining the Episcopal Church to become a priest, but decided to join the Commodores instead.Ĥ. He nearly chose the alta r over the stage. Richie was a tennis player before anything else, earning himself a sports scholarship at the Tuskegee Institute, from which he graduated with a degree in e conomics.ģ. Located in the state of Alabama, the city is famous for its notable African-American educator Booker T Washington and civil rights activists, including Rosa Parks and Sammy Younge Jr.Ģ. Lionel Richie was born in the US city of Tuskegee.
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