Lionel Ritchie's descent

pcmr

i know it's an easy target but seriously
this guy made an appearance on this local singing contest and i thought of where his career is at now
compared to someone like sade whose reupped and refreshed her appeal and cats like prince constantly killing it throughout
ritchie has fallen dramatically
although wack, the transfer from commodores to $ongwriting and solo venture was quite sucessful but recently he's quite stale

he just released an album of country version's of his songs


and this


his live voice is cringeworthy also..i just don't think people would be paying to a sold out big venue

what say ye

RAJ

Love this record???. Has that Thriller vibe.

pcmr

^^^^
i saw a career recap and for a moment he was riding the jackson wave

batmon

For a minute he was eating at the same table as MJ.

It never really panned out for the long run. And like Whitney Houston, dude stayed w/ that crossover nonsense.

We cats can hatt on his solo career's longevity, but his Commodores shit cements his Hall Of Fame vote...imo.

Big_Chan

Dude sold something like 20 million plus solo records. Crazy. I have not checked for any of his music since the 80s.

The Commodores had CLASSIC joints like this....



His first couple solo records had some heat too...

RAJ

Gonna hijack this thread and post Commodore bangers:

pcmr

commodores for sure
but i mean he would have made the HOF on song writing alone
however he can't sing anymore and this country shit is embarassing
aging less gracefully than others

batmon

His run buffers him from the hatt. Hes not really worth the hatt.

Jesus Is Love is my shit.

Dude and his team has seminal breaks. I cant hatt him at 60 something for trying to get money.

I recall the Motown doc where the exects we finally paid them attention ....calling them the Commanders.

He put in his work w/ them and broke out at the right time and got his paper.

batmon

Im fuckin w/ Willie Nelson doin Easy.

Smooth 101 Country Soul......im in........ fuck yall.

pickwick33

I think a MAJOR reason for his descent is that after Dancing On The Ceiling came out, he didn't release a new album for another ten years. By which time he was in the "whatever happened to?" category.

It's like a friend of mine said at the time: finding out, in the mid-nineties, that Lionel Richie had a new album was like finding out Gloria Gaynor had a new album.

I think somewhere in there he went through a nasty, embarrasingly public divorce as well.

pcmr said:

this country shit is embarassing
aging less gracefully than others

To be fair, he flirted with the C&W market when he was in his prime: writing songs for Kenny Rogers, collaborating with Alabama on "Deep River Woman." And even though the Commodores'"Three Times A Lady" didn't make the country charts, at least one country station here in Chicago added it to their playlist.

Jimster

Def Jef got it right. "The Judas of Funk".

Will ride all day for his good stuff, though. "Love Will Find A Way" is vg+.

The_Non

batmon said:

Im fuckin w/ Willie Nelson doin Easy.

Smooth 101 Country Soul......im in........ fuck yall.

Yknow, I saw an infomercial for this the other day late nite and I was like what the fuck, but you know what? That dude Batmon is right. Fuck yall, Willie sounds good on Easy, and this isn't even 1/2 as embarrassing as I expected it to be.

Big_Chan

J i m s t e r said:

Def Jef got it right. "The Judas of Funk".

Will ride all day for his good stuff, though. "Love Will Find A Way" is vg+.

DocMcCoy

batmon said:

Im fuckin w/ Willie Nelson doin Easy.

Smooth 101 Country Soul......im in........ fuck yall.

Get that old Jamaican folks money.

DocMcCoy

pickwick33 said:

I think somewhere in there he went through a nasty, embarrasingly public divorce as well.

He's been through two. His first wife went out like No Face and took half his publishing as part of their divorce settlement. His second wife took him to the cleaners in similar fashion, although I think he managed to keep her away from his publishing this time.

Jimster

Big_Chan said:

J i m s t e r said:

Def Jef got it right. "The Judas of Funk".

Will ride all day for his good stuff, though. "Love Will Find A Way" is vg+.

Liking this too:

Junior

Personally I never really saw Richie as being "in" so can't really see him as selling out. He always struck me as someone who was happy to adjust his sound to whatever was selling at the time. Not meant as a diss though, I ride for a fair bit of the Commodores stuff, particularly their heavily Sly influenced debut. Plus Richie ballads are a fundamental part of my introduction to the wooing of the opposite sex (school disco-related).

On with the Commodores bangers:

skel

Surely the nadir of dude's career was playing fall guy to Lineker in those Walkers Crisps ads.

Or did I imagineer that?

magpaul

skel said:

Surely the nadir of dude's career was playing fall guy to Lineker in those Walkers Crisps ads.

Or did I imagineer that?

Flomotion

pcmr said:

his live voice is cringeworthy also..i just don't think people would be paying to a sold out big venue

what say ye

Nah, he's still selling out major stadiums and headlining shows all over the world. Difference is he now does one or two dates in a venue instead of four or five. I've worked on some of his UK shows and in soundchecks his voice sounds good although the big songs in his repertoire are strong enough to withstanding a vocal mauling every now and again. Also, possibly the nicest guy in the business. And, no, I don't own a single Lionel-related record.

Jimster

IIRC, dude also had a serious problem with his throat which practically stopped him singing for a long time, hence the absence of material for long periods. I think, as a result, he can no longer do his big hits justice so he's had to change his game, stylistically. Dude must be 60 and still in the public eye so fair play. 2 divorces to pay for and that, man say 'im a ting, 'im a ting.

I knew his daughter Nicole was adopted but it turns out she's related to Sheila E and Coke Escovedo too.

pcmr

thanks for the discussion folks
the throat thing makes sense

DJ_Enki

pickwick33 said:

And even though the Commodores'"Three Times A Lady" didn't make the country charts, at least one country station here in Chicago added it to their playlist.

Newman does the definitive "Three Times a Lady" cover:

batmon

copped

dukeofdelridge

batmon

I can deal with the remakes but some of the hits lack some signature unpinnings.

Sail On is cool but when it peaks it uses a Country feel that doesnt match the strings and horns.

Another joints lacks that Commodores background harmonies that they dont try to replicate.

Willie Nelson on Easy is some old man gettin his shit.

Starbucks steez.

pcmr

seems like he has not fallen off at all
after poor sales for his last album he is now a top billboard album sales (beating adele)
http://www.soultracks.com/story-lionel-richie-number-1

Jimster

2 sales = gold disc these days, doe.

I wouldn't waste the bandwidth skanking it.

OptimusLime

His 10 year silence had to do with the death in the family, his divorce and just fatigue. Just saw a documentary on this dude. He recognises he's a cheeseball, but seems to just love what he does. Seems supernice.

And soccer superstar Lionel Messi is named after Richie. Awesome.



Also young girls are my weakness... :feelin_it: