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Lionel Richie is that uncommon artist who, when his music comes on at a household cookout, he’ll have your mama, your grandma and your TikTok-lovin’ niece all dancin’ on the ceiling (assuming there’s a ceiling to your cookout). He’s a drive in leisure and, although he’s 73 years younger, Richie gained’t or “Can’t Gradual Down” anytime quickly! Sorry for the ’80s-era pun, however that album bought 20 million copies on the energy of 5 hit singles, together with the juggernauts “Hi there,” “Runnin’ With the Evening,” and “All Evening Lengthy (All Evening).”
When “Can’t Gradual Down” was launched in 1983, Richie was already an enormous deal. His years with the legendary Commodores, in addition to his solo success, had cemented his famous person standing. I knew each phrase to the group’s “Brick Home,” due to my stepdad’s unbelievable vinyl assortment, and due to the music video for “Hi there” — bear in mind the Lionel Richie bust molded in clay by his blind love curiosity? — that tune was caught in my head. However then, within the mid-’80s, who wasn’t “caught on” Richie and his laundry listing of hits? Nonetheless, one thing occurred in 1985 that took my informal fandom to a different degree. That was the 12 months Richie hosted the American Music Awards and shouted the phrase “OUTRAGEOUS!” on stage about 325 instances in a single night time.
Maybe I’m exaggerating, but it surely actually appeared like that many instances. Each AMA efficiency, award acceptance, almost each business … “OUTRAGEOUS!” Decked out in his sequined blazer, Richie was sensible that night time, placing his pleasure and enthusiasm for music and his fellow artists (Prince took house an AMA trophy) on show for all to witness. To my 11-year-old thoughts, he made music cool. The extra pumped up he grew to become, the extra engaged I grew to become. Whereas the world noticed a pop star, I noticed a Black man who sort of resembled my uncle. I bear in mind having immense pleasure that night time and seeing myself in his outrageousness. That night time, Richie went from being an artist to an inspiration.
Richie’s best energy is that he’s a star with no boundaries. He defied genres. Sure, he got here to fame inside R&B circles with the Commodores, however as a solo performer and songwriter, he mastered soul, dance, pop/rock and nation. From Diana Ross and Alabama to Enrique Iglesias and Kenny Rogers, artists sought to sing Richie’s songs.
Usually in leisure, the colour of 1’s pores and skin is inaccurately used to pigeonhole or typecast an artist. Richie refused to permit that to occur. He boldly defied categorization, and as an alternative weaved common themes of affection and hope via his music.
Richie succeeded on his personal phrases. Sure, just a few critics again within the day might have “questioned his Blackness.” However Richie bucked the naysayers, paving the way in which for different courageous artists. Immediately, we champion artists who bridge a number of genres together with Steve Lacy and Kane Brown, and so they owe an enormous debt to Richie. That’s additionally a part of what drew me to him as a child. He’s a Black male star who carved himself a profession that was exterior of bounds. And he’s nonetheless related after over six many years, so I suppose he bought it proper.
Dion “Diondeezy” Summers could be heard on SiriusXM’s “The Warmth“.
This essay is a part of a sequence — in partnership with the on-air expertise of SiriusXM — to pay tribute to the performers being inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame on Nov. 5 in Los Angeles. Catch the entire Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame 2022 Induction Ceremony on HBO Nov. 19, at 8 p.m. ET, together with a simulcast on SiriusXM’s Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame Radio (channel 310). SiriusXM listeners may catch stay, backstage protection and commentary on Quantity on the SXM app and on Faction Speak (channel 103).
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