Before the arenas, the Grammys, Lionel Richie thought his future was the pulpit. He was a shy kid who believed the only way he could ever speak to people was as a minister in an Episcopal church. For a long time, he truly thought his life would be sermons.
Then a college band one “beautiful lady on the front row” changed everything. She yelled, “Sing it, baby!”, and something in him snapped. He realised he was not “priest material” at all.
From there his life turned. He talks about losing himself in the writing of his memoir, crying at dinner as old heartbreaks came back. He remembers early days with the Commodores, getting every piece of their gear stolen at the Harlem YMCA, then buying it all back on the street for small bills.
Then he calmly drops you into the night “We Are The World” was born. Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, everyone in one room while he ran back and forth from hosting the American Music Awards. Quincy Jones calling himself an “arranger of chaos” is just the icing on top.
Lionel Richie Was Going to Be a Minister; Reflects on Creating “We Are The World”
Inside A&M Studios in Los Angeles on January 28, 1985, the story becomes real. Lionel stands shoulder to shoulder with Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and a wall of voices, all crammed into one room right after the American Music Awards. Quincy Jones is at the front, calmly “organizing chaos” as history forms around him. It is the closest you can get to standing in that studio while We Are The World is born for the first time.
We Are The World (Studio Session)
This last chapter takes you back to where he learned how to move a crowd in the first place. In a live 1977 performance of Brick House with The Commodores, you see the shy kid from Tuskegee fully gone. Lionel is at the center, teasing the crowd, starting shouting contests, and introducing every “brother” by name.