American Idol judge and Singer Lionel Richie has long been an icon of the music industry, building a career full of chart-topping hits and multiple Grammy prizes.
But he is also a father to two daughters and one son — all of whom are renowned for their rights.
Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr., a famous American singer, songwriter, and producer most admired in the 1970s and 80s for his smooth and soulful love ballads.
Here, in this article, we have summed up all the information regarding Lionel Richie’s bio, net worth, kids, wife, and more! Keep scrolling down for more!
Quick Facts
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Lionel Brockman Richie Jr.
June 20, 1949 Tuskegee, Alabama, U.S.
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| Years active: | 1968–present |
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| Children: | 3, including Nicole and Sofia |
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| Website: | lionelrichie.com |
What is Lionel Richie’s Net Worth?
In 2013, the IRS issued a tax lien against him on unpaid taxes, which the artist promised would be “immediately handled.”
As of early August 2020, however, Richie’s net worth is estimated at more than $200 million.
Lionel Richie Bio and Early Life
Lionel Richie, the son of Lionel Brockman Richie Sr. and Alberta R. Foster, was born and raised in Tuskegee, Alabama. He was raised on the Tuskegee Institute campus.
He graduated from the East Campus, Joliet Township High School, in Joliet, Illinois. A star tennis player in Joliet, he accepted a tennis grant to attend the Tuskegee Institute, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Economics degree.
Richie considered learning divinity as a priest in the Episcopal Church but ultimately decided that he was not “priestly material” and decided to continue his musical career.
He is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi, a national brotherhood of honor for band members, and an active member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Brotherhood.
Lionel Richie Relationships and Children
On October 18, 1975, Richie married Brenda Harvey, his college sweetheart. In 1983 the couple adopted Nicole Camille Escovedo, the two-year-old daughter of one of Lionel’s band members, and the drummer’s niece Sheila E informally.
The couple raised her as their daughter Nicole Richie and legally adopted her at the age of nine.
Richie initiated a relationship with Diane Alexander in 1986, while still married to Harvey. He later broke away from Harvey, who allegedly discovered Richie and Alexander together in a hotel room in Beverly Hills in 1988, saying she was “room service.”
In June 1988, Harvey was arrested and charged with physical injury to a spouse, resisting arrest, infringement, vandalism, battery, and disturbing peace after she found Richie at Beverly Hills Apartment in Alexander.
After almost 18 years of marriage, Richie and Harvey divorced on August 9, 1993. On December 21, 1995, Richie married Diane Alexander. He has a son, Miles Brockman, who was born on May 27, 1994, and Sofia Richie, a daughter, was born on August 24, 1998. However, the marriage terminated in 2004.
In 2008 Richie became a grandfather when Nicole Richie gave birth to a baby girl with Good Charlotte‘s lead singer, Joel Madden. The couple ‘s second child was born in 2009.
Genealogy
Richie appeared on NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” on March 4, 2011, the program investigated the genealogy of Lionel Richie and found out that his maternal grandfather was the national leader of a new fraternal African-American organization. Of particular note, J. Louis Brown was:
Principal organizer and Supreme Grand Archon of the Knights of Wise Men, a fraternal organization for black men in the post-Civil War period. Formed in Nashville in 1879, it was a fraternal insurance and burial benefit society, as were so many others during the period.
Awards and Honors
In December 2017, Richie was honored with Gloria Estefan, LL Cool J, Norman Lear, and Carmen de Lavallade for his outstanding career as one of the year’s Kennedy Center Honors.
He joined another exclusive club in March of the following year, with a handprint ceremony outside the TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles.
Lionel Richie Career
Commodores
Richie had formed a succession of R&B groups as a student in Tuskegee in the mid-1960s. He became a vocalist and saxophonist with the Commodores in 1968.
In 1968 they signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records for one record before moving on to Motown Records as a support act for The Jackson 5.
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The Commodores then established themselves as an influential group of souls. Their first few albums had a funky, danceable sound, as in tracks like “Machine Gun” and “Brick House.”
Over time, Richie wrote and sang more romantic, easy-to-hear ballads like “Easy,” “Three Times a Lady,” “Still,” and “Sail On” breakup ballad.
Solo career
Richie’s debut solo album in 1982, Lionel Richie, featured three hit singles: the U.S. number-one song “Truly,” which continued the style of his ballads with the Commodores; and began his career as one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s, and the top five hits “You Are” and “My Love.”
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The album scored No. Three on the music charts and sold more than 4 million copies. His 1983 follow-up album, Can’t Slow Down, sold more than twice as many copies and won two Grammy Awards, including the Album of the Year.
The album had the number one hit “All Night Long,” a Caribbean-flavored dance number promoted by a colorful music video produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith.
Further, in 1984 during the closing ceremony of the XXIII Olympic Games in Los Angeles, he performed “All Night Long.”
Also, Richie’s albums like Louder Than Words and Time in the 1990s didn’t match the commercial success of his earlier work.
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Some of his recent albums, like Renaissance, have returned to his older style and achieved success in Europe, but in the United States, only modest notice.
Awards
Lionel won four Grammy Awards, including 1985 Song of the Year for “We Are The World,” which he co-wrote with Michael Jackson, 1984 Album of the Year for Can’t Slow Down, 1984 Non-Classical Producer of the Year and 1982 Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Truly.
Lionel Richie was the first person to receive an Album Award from RIAA Diamond.
Richie was nominated and won two Golden Globe awards. He was nominated for Best Original Song for the movie Endless Love in 1982.
He was also nominated in 1986 and won the Best Original Song award for the song “Say You, Say Me,” featured in the movie White Nights. This song has also won the Academy Best Original Song Award.
