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• Mr. Richie's official site
• "Lionel Richie Preaches Melody On New Album"
• "SOUTH AFRICA: Lionel Richie wows 30,000 fans"
• The Breast Cancer Research Foundation

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Prolific singer-songwriter talks about his latest album, Just Go. (3:02)
 

Full interview. (22:28)
 

Tavis: I'm pleased to welcome Lionel Richie back to this program. The iconic singer-songwriter is out next month with his latest project, a new CD called "Just Go." He's also planning a major world tour this year with stops on four continents - I ain't mad at you.

Lionel Richie: Come on.

Tavis: As I mentioned at the top, all this year we'll be celebrating Motown's 50th anniversary. Lionel Richie, of course, contributed so much - and I do mean so much - to that legendary label including a remarkable run of 13 consecutive top ten hits as a solo artist. I ain't mad at you, Lionel (laughter).

Richie: (Laughter) I'm enjoying it.

Tavis: How you doing, man?

Richie: You know what? Every time I come here, it feels like I just left yesterday. I'm that comfortable. But we've been around the world a couple of times since I saw you last.

Tavis: To your point, you never stop moving, huh?

Richie: No. One of the blessings of what has happened to me is that not only are we known here in America, but the rest of the world. So by the time we start out in Europe and end up around in the Middle East and come back around through Asia, it's been a year, you know. But we travel a lot, a lot.

Tavis: This is a crazy question, which ain't the first time I've done this to you. It won't be the last, I promise you.

Richie: I understand (laughter).

Tavis: You keep coming back. I got more crazy questions.

Richie: I know.

Tavis: Let me just ask you to pick three parts of the world, any place you want to pick, and give me just a top side for what the difference is and how the concerts are received, the play lists. Just give me a sense of the aesthetic of three different parts of the world.

Richie: All right. Let's start with just an unusual place, the Middle East.

Tavis: Okay, the Middle East. When you play there, it's like what?

Richie: When we play there, it's 20,000, 30,000 people a night and it's pandemonium, total pandemonium. We're talking about - okay, normally you would think religion, you would think politics. There's a lot of factors as to why you would not go there or why they would not allow an artist to play for them.

Tavis: I would think that the audience - not to cut you off - would be rather reserved.

Richie: Okay, so here's my opening line after three songs in. My opening line, "Is this Detroit?" because they act just like this is downtown Detroit. They know every word. They speak in English and whatever you expect them to be as far as reserved is just D.C. I'm playing Detroit, Michigan, D.C., anything you would think of other than the Middle East.

Tavis: Okay, so that's the Middle East.

Richie: That's the Middle East.

Tavis: Give me another place.

Richie: All right. Let's go into, of course, England. It's karaoke night (laughter). Not kidding, no kidding. You have no idea. Any part of Britain, Manchester, you name it, they know every word and I don't even have to sing. Just forget about it. I am walking -

Tavis: - you just hold the mike out, "You sing."

Richie: Right. I'd say, "I sometimes see you pass outside my door" and I can sit down because the rest of the show is done by the audience. Then I turn the camera on the audience so they can have their chance to perform, okay? That's second.

Tavis: Let me pick the last spot for you, if I may be so presumptuous.

Richie: Please, please, please.

Tavis: Because I understand you just got back for the first time performing in South Africa.

Richie: I was gonna go there.

Tavis: You were gonna go there? See, that's why I love -

Richie: - you and me.

Tavis: Tell me about South Africa.

Richie: The first thing that got me was the opening line, "Welcome Home." I'd never been there before. From the time I got off of that stage to the time I got on that plane to come back, I had tears in my eyes. They know everything about me. They know everything about The Commodores. They know everything about my family. I'm talking about kids from 7 to 70.

Tavis: They know Tuskegee?

Richie: They know Tuskegee. They have friends and they have students and they have relatives who've been to Tuskegee. "I have a son that's been to Tuskegee." I mean, it's not just that they know about it. They have connections to it. They're able to sit down with me and discuss the issues of America and the issues of Tuskegee. You know, I felt as though, you know, there was a lot that I had to learn because they were plugging me in to the rest of my heritage. You understand what I'm saying?

Tavis: Oh, yeah.

Richie: You know, they were there, of course, to see me getting off that plane. What did that kid say to me that was most striking? I said, "Easy like Sunday morning." "Easy Like Sunday Morning" is your favorite song. You weren't thought of when I wrote "Easy Like Sunday Morning. How do you know this?" "In my family, Mr. Richie, you were taught to us." That says everything. That says volumes, you know.

Of course, I was just humbled by the fact that we went to Durbin and we went to Cape Town and to Johannesburg, Joburg, and they kept saying to me, "They may be a little reserved." Yeah, right (laughter). There was such a performance there.

Tavis: They were dancing on the ceiling (laughter)?

Richie: They were on the ceiling and everywhere else, by the way. But what was so beautiful is, of course, when you get to things like "Se la," when you get to things like "Stuck On You," you know, and I did this thing where I decided to do "Endless Love" where I let all the ladies in the audience be Diana Ross and you'd have thought this was debut number one (laughter).

Tavis: American Idol in Joburg (laughter).

Richie: American Idol in Joburg. They were out of their minds. Of course, when you get to things like "All Night Long," just forget about it. But they know every song.

Tavis: Another crazy question. But since so many of us harbor these illusions, suffer from delusions, of being in the shower thinking that we're Lionel Richie -

Richie: - I thank you.

Tavis: What is it like to be on stage in places around the world and to see that kind of response to your stuff everywhere you go? What's that feel like?

Richie: To me, it's humbling. It's humbling. Let's take - where was that that I played? I'm trying to think of that. 500,000 people one night. Now you walk out on stage and you hear your song in waves, "Hello, Hello, Hello" (laughter). It was unbelievable.

Every night I walk on stage, you have a million and one artists you can go see. You can have a million and one artists. I mean, it's just your choice. I don't sit up there every day and go, "Hey, you need to go see Lionel Richie." They show up year after year, year after year.

When I walk out on stage, just walking out on stage, no song. Okay, I haven't started yet, you guys. Wait now, you know. It's humbling because this is, what, 30-some odd years later? It was only supposed to be to get the girls on the campus of Tuskegee (laughter). It wasn't supposed to go any further than that.

Tavis: And now you're pulling in Istanbul (laughter).

Richie: Yeah (laughter).

Tavis: Do these songs - I'm gonna get to "Just Go," I promise you I will -

Richie: - Yeah, I know, I know, I know.

Tavis: Do these songs, Lionel, after all these years ever take on new meaning for you because you've sung them countless times?

Richie: Yeah. Every time I think I have figured out the song and I say, "You know, tonight I don't feel like singing it. I really don't feel up to it" and then I walk out on stage or I take a meet and greet sometimes before I go on stage to hear how they've applied these songs to their lives.

You know, I mean, I've had people say to me, "You know, I was contemplating suicide, but your song, "All Night Long" gave me the joy of living, the desire to live" or "Zoom" or "Easy Like Sunday Morning." Just your lyrics, just the words you sang.

By the way, man, how many people you know they got buried on "Brick House?" Requested buried on "Brick House." Now I've tried to think about "Brick House" for a lot of things, but never as a burial, you know (laughter).

Or you get the Sunnis and the Shiites. They cannot get anything in agreement except one thing. They've all been married, engaged and enjoyed partying every night on those songs. So when you get into Belfast between the Protestants and the Catholics, they can't agree.

Haven't figured out how to get that together yet except for one thing. Four nights are sold out and we're gonna sing Lionel Richie songs. I haven't quite figured out yet, but when I walk on stage, I celebrate the joy of what they're feeling. This is a night they're gonna sing with me and I can't help but just go, "I'm in it. I'm with you."

Tavis: I've always believed that certainly in the Black community - this may very well be true of our country - but certainly in Black America, the best that we have been able to produce are our artists.

Richie: Absolutely.

Tavis: I celebrate artists like you and so many other genres, but I think our artists are the best that we've given the world. I come to that now because it's one thing for the world community, for the rest of the globe, to celebrate the humanity of our artists even, at the same time, they don't get our politics.

Richie: Got it.

Tavis: You know where I'm going with this.

Richie: I know where you're going.

Tavis: So you're out on the road and they're celebrating you, but they really disdain our politics. But you just came back from being on the other side of the world, so you were out there when all this Obama mania was kicking up.

Richie: Absolutely.

Tavis: Did you sense?

Richie: What was so wonderful was, for the first time in a long time, if you said America, they were smiling. For the first time in a long time, the world was saying, you know, isn't it exciting in every language. I don't care if I'm having an interview in France, if I'm having an interview in Germany, if I'm having an interview - it doesn't matter. "Isn't it exciting in America right now, Lionel?" I'm thinking to myself, "What are they talking about?" Of course, I know what they're talking about. They're talking about politics. I spent eight years -

Tavis: - staying away from the subject (laughter).

Richie: They never went near it and I never went near it. I mean, come on, you can't win. It's a no-win, you know. But I am sitting there now looking at the excitement that I used to see years ago when people would say their only dream in life, "One day, I'm gonna make it to America. One day I'm gonna be in this place to see what this is all about."

Well, that energy now has been renewed because I can't do an interview now. I feel like Obama's representative, you know. I walk out on stage - in fact, the last night in Johannesburg, I walked out on the stage and they started cheering. I said, "Excuse me, I'm not Obama."

Tavis: (Laughter) And they cheered louder.

Richie: "I'm not Obama." I mean, I can now crack jokes like that on stage and it's universal.

Tavis: Yeah. Did I just read - I think I did - that you're on a compilation CD for Obama?

Richie: For Obama. "Yes, We Can." It was one of those wonderful periods. I've been very blessed in my life, you know. Very few times you get a chance to do something to a degree where it doesn't come along every day. "We Are the World" was one of those things.

Tavis: Quincy was just here, yeah.

Richie: "Say You, Say Me" or, you know, a shot at the Oscars. That's something amazing. When someone comes along and says, "Would you like to do something for Obama, "Yes, We Can," and more importantly, the president-elect? Would you like to do something?" I said, "You mean, for the first Black President of the United States?" Now first of all, to be blessed to be alive at this period of time, do I have a song? I have a song, you know.

Tavis: Yeah.

Richie: And if I didn't have a song, I'd find you a song. And then on top of that, I said, you know, "Could I have permission to use his voice and likeness?" and they said, "Absolutely." Now how many times do you get to do a song and have the president's voice on the record? Excuse me, I have a song.

So I wrote the song called "Eternity." You know, "There is a place for us, there is a place for us, for all the world to see, there is a place out there for all eternity." What we've been searching for for the longest time is that place where we as a people, not only just Black people, but Americans, we can call this home, home for everybody.

I think what has happened with the Obama presidency or his election, he's actually given everyone a chance to feel like we are together as this wonderful collection of all kinds of cultures and each one of us has a voice now. But I know for me, when I first got involved, writing the lyrics to this song was so easy because it was everything -

Tavis: - "like Sunday morning." That easy (laughter).

Richie: No, but, I mean, it was easy because of the fact that, you know, you're thinking about your grandparents, you're thinking about your mom and dad, I'm thinking about the Tuskegee Airmen. You know, the time in life when they went, they fought, they came home and they couldn't vote. Imagine from that point - this is my lifetime I'm talking about. Your lifetime. And then all of a sudden, here we are watching this man called Obama, president-elect. Wow, where did that come from?

Tavis: Who knew when Berry Gordy started Motown 50 years ago that you would be at this place, but that your journey to this place would take you through this place called Motown. Take me back to your earliest Motown memories.

Richie: Motown University. You know, I'm a college guy. Everything to me was college and instructors and I always thought about here I am, what, 19, 20, 21-year-old and we are not in Detroit now. We're in the new Motown which is coming now to Los Angeles, California. I remember my first time in Motown Studios and there is Marvin Gaye sitting right over there and Smoky Robinson right over there and Stevie Wonder walks in the door. Now I don't know about any other university, but this one had my attention.

Tavis: Yeah (laughter).

Richie: More importantly, I learned so much. My early memories were something very simple. I felt like I wasn't able to handle that. This was a serious university. I decided that what I - I'm still in school at the time. I'm an economics major and I'm an accounting minor. You got this? So I decided that what I would do is interview these people because no one has access to them.

So I interviewed Marvin. I said, "Marvin, what conservatory did you graduate from?" He said, "What the hell is that?" There we go. So I said, "Where did you learn how to write music?" "I don't know how to write music." "You don't know how to write music?" "No." "You don't know how to write music." "Smokey?" "No, I don't." "Mr. Gordy, what business school did you graduate from?" "You mean you didn't graduate from a business school?"

Gave me all the confidence in the world to go "I'm in the music business. I'm a songwriter. I'm a lead singer" because once I found out that those guys right there had the melody, my earliest memories is one thing. Marvin Gaye saying, "Can you hear it? Can you hear it? Does a song play in your head? Yep, you're a songwriter." Over.

Tavis: That wise counsel from Marvin Gaye himself notwithstanding, how do you find the confidence as a songwriter when you're in a room with Smoky Robinson and Stevie Wonder? I'm talking about songwriting. How do you find your confidence in that university?

Richie: Easy. Very easy, very easy. When you are 19, 20, 21 years old, there's a confidence called youth.

Tavis: Yeah (laughter).

Richie: I can take that brother out. You know what I'm saying? Once you reach over and go, "Uh-oh, you mean he's human?"

Tavis: He's made of the same stuff all of you got, yeah (laughter).

Richie: Uh-oh, wait a minute now, you see? There's a certain - you know, there's a great line that says, "When you're 19 years old and you win Wimbledon, you go, "Yeah, so?" And then you turn 50 years old and you look back and you go, "Damn, I won Wimbledon." Well, the same thing happens here. I mean, you know, in other words, I don't know what possessed me at that time, except youth and arrogance, but I felt that I could take this company on.

Tavis: Those of us who read - easy for me to say - those of us who read "Vanity Fair" regularly were so delighted when we got the issue with Kate Winslow on the cover. Well, not excited for just that reason alone.

Richie: I understand. That's why I bought it (laughter).

Tavis: I was excited to see Kate Winslet, but I was more excited - sorry, Kate - when I looked inside and saw this wonderful piece that had been done on the 50th anniversary of Motown. That picture right there, that is Suzanne De Passe -

Richie: - yes.

Tavis: On the phone as she always is, working a deal as she always is, who, of course, was with Berry Gordy way back in the day at Motown -

Richie: - and the founder of The Commodores.

Tavis: Absolutely. The founder of The Commodores. And there, sans shirt, without his shirt, is one Lionel Richie. Brother, you still got it together after all these years.

Richie: You know, that did a lot for - that did a lot.

Tavis: You getting some phone calls (laughter)?

Richie: You know, I'm getting phone calls. You know, I tell the story. I spend most of my career telling ladies "Don't call me Daddy, don't call me Daddy."

Tavis: "Don't call me Daddy."

Richie: "Don't call me Daddy." Then, of course, Harlow came along, my granddaughter, and they started calling me Grandpa. So my new line is, "You can call me Daddy." (Laughter) So in this case, you know, this has done a great deal for my - Annie Liebovitz said to me, "Of all things, here's Suzanne. She's completely dressed and beautiful. Lionel, we want you to take your shirt off and, by the way, and your shoes off." I said, "Annie, be careful now. This could be the make or break the career." But it came out fantastic.

Tavis: Yeah, it's a beautiful photo shoot.

Richie: Yeah, I fell in love with that. Of course, I've been wanting to work with her for quite a while.

Tavis: Annie's a great photographer, yeah.

Richie: I love her, I love her, and very fast and knows what she wants, but I was just happy she left my pants on. You know, Annie will have you in some situations (laughter).

Tavis: Yeah. Speaking of taking your pants off, "Just Go."

Richie: There you go.

Tavis: Here we go. Let's talk about the new record, "Just Go."

Richie: You know, this has happened to me. You know, I've done a lot of albums and I decided that -

Tavis: - that's an understatement.

Richie: Yeah. This particular album, we were trying to figure out how do we approach this, you know. The angle was very simple to me, you know. If I have to prove one more time that Lionel Richie can write a song, I don't have to do that. I've done that. But we have so many great writers today, Ne-Yo, we've got - help me out here.

Tavis: Akon.

Richie: Yeah, thank you very much. All of these wonderful people that are involved in the music business and I'm thinking to myself, "Stargate and The Movement and all these guys, Tricky and Dream." I'm thinking to myself, "Enough of this. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have meetings with all these guys and here's my question to them. Lionel Richie, 2009. What does he sound like?" and walk out of the room. They say, "Well, don't you want to be a part?"

I'm bringing Lionel Richie to the table because so many artists is how I got my big break with Kenny Rogers. He let me totally be in control. Diana Ross, my dear Diana Ross, totally let me. "Lionel, whatever you think." Whatever I think. It's very smart.

So in this case, I gave them 180%. Trust me. Akon came in this room and played me back some stuff that I should have written. I don't know why I didn't write that (laughter). You're still trying to check whether I - well, anyway, that's another story.

And Ne-Yo. I mean, you understand. I told Ne-Yo a couple of stories, you know, that I taught Michael Jackson how to dance, but the two of us couldn't do the same dance, so I let him do it (laughter). Because he was saying, "Mr. Richie, why don't you" - first of all, cut this Mr. Richie out. He was scared a little bit.

But I must tell you, it was fabulous. A great education for both of us because the question they wanted to ask me was, "How do you last for 30 years?" and the question I wanted to ask them was, "What does a hit record sound like in 2009?" So we both had answers for each other.

Tavis: So how would you describe then what Lionel sounds like in 2009?

Richie: I'm telling you right now. They are discovering - I love this line - they're discovering melody. You got it?

Tavis: That's important (laughter).

Richie: That's important. Remember now, we did ten to fifteen years of taking melody out of - we had beat and spoken word, okay? So what we did was Lionel in 2009 is melody with beat. Same. You know, nothing really changes, and it's been a great thing for them to discover because they're right there now.

I mean, we're gonna bring it back here. It's coming back in strong. I was talking to Chris Brown a couple of days ago and the first thing he said to me was, "I'm bringing back melody" and I said, "Okay, I'm standing right here waiting on you." (Laughter)

Tavis: It is the 50th anniversary of Motown which became what it became in large measure to a lot of people like, of course, Diana and The Supremes and Smoky and Stevie and this guy right here, Lionel Richie, who had so many hits with The Commodores and, of course, so many solo hits on his own.

He has a new record out, about to drop now as we speak, called "Just Go." So go on Amazon and go and order it now because you know it's gonna be all that. Called "Just Go" with Ne-Yo and Akon and a bunch of other folk on the project. Lionel, I am always delighted to have you on the program.

Richie: You know, I always say that this is the fastest half hour on earth. Every time I get to you, you know, we cover so much that I feel like at least we should do a two-hour special.

Tavis: (Laughter) In PBS prime time.

Richie: Yeah, and then we can cover the entire story.

Tavis: (Laughter) Well, you know what? One day, I got to get you to come out of your shell and just open up just a little bit. I love you, man.

Richie: A pleasure.

Tavis: Good to see you.

Richie: Same here. I love you to death.