Lionel Richie (album)

Lionel Richie is the eponymous debut solo studio album by American singer Lionel Richie, released on October 6, 1982, on Motown Records. It was recorded and released while Richie was still a member of the Commodores; he left the group shortly after the album's release. The first single from the album, "Truly", topped the Billboard Hot 100. Follow-up single "You Are" reached number four, and "My Love" reached number five. The album was also a hit, reaching number one on the Cashbox albums chart on December 11, 1982.[5]

Lionel Richie
Studio album by Lionel Richie
Released	October 6, 1982
Recorded	July 1981–July 1982
Studio	A&M Studios, Los Angeles
Genre	Pop soul[1]
Length	38:27
Label	Motown
Producer	James Anthony Carmichael, Lionel Richie
Lionel Richie chronology
Lionel Richie (1982) Can't Slow Down (1983)
Singles from Lionel Richie
"Truly" Released: September 1982 "You Are" Released: January 1983 "My Love" Released: April 1983

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Robert Christgau	C+[3]
Rolling Stone	[4]

In 2003, Lionel Richie was re-released as part of a remaster series that saw two additional tracks added: a solo version of "Endless Love" and an instrumental version of "You Are". Eagles member Joe Walsh provided the guitar solo for the song "Wandering Stranger".

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Serves You Right"	John McClain Greg Phillinganes Lionel Richie	5:14
2.	"Wandering Stranger"	Richie	5:38
3.	"Tell Me"	Richie David Cochrane	5:32
4.	"My Love"	Richie	4:08
5.	"Round and Round"	David Cochrane Richie	4:57
6.	"Truly"	Richie	3:26
7.	"You Are"	Brenda Harvey-Richie Richie	5:05
8.	"You Mean More to Me"	Richie	3:08
9.	"Just Put Some Love in Your Heart"	Richie	1:27

2003 remaster bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
10.	"Endless Love" (solo demo)	Richie	3:58
11.	"You Are" (instrumental)	Harvey-Richie Richie	5:06

In popular culture

In a Season 3 episode of Friends, the character, Chandler is seen holding a copy of this album and singing "Endless Love". The song was not a part of this release; however, the song now appears on the 2003 remastered edition as one of two bonus tracks (as a solo performance only). At the time, "Endless Love" was available only on the original soundtrack to the 1981 movie of the same name starring Brooke Shields, as well as Richie's compilation Back to Front and Diana Ross's One Woman: The Ultimate Collection.

Personnel

Musicians

• Lionel Richie – lead vocals, vocal arrangements, backing vocals (1, 2, 3, 5-8), acoustic piano (4, 6, 8), Fender Rhodes (7), rhythm arrangements (7)
• Greg Phillinganes – Fender Rhodes (1), Roland Jupiter 8 (1), Minimoog (1), arrangements (1)
• Clarence McDonald – Fender Rhodes (2)
• Michael Lang – acoustic piano (2, 9), Fender Rhodes (9)
• David Cochrane – Prophet-5 (3), electric guitar (3, 7), synthesizer bass (3, 7), backing vocals (3, 7), arrangements (3, 5), acoustic piano (5), bass guitar (5), saxophone solo (5)
• Michael Boddicker – synthesizers (3, 5, 7), vocoder (3, 5, 7)
• Bill Payne – Fender Rhodes (6)
• Thomas Dolby [uncredited] – synthesizer programming (7), backing vocals (7)
• Paul Jackson Jr. – electric guitar (1, 2, 6)
• Fred Tackett – acoustic guitar (2)
• Joe Walsh – guitar solo (2)
• Richie Zito – guitar solo (3)
• Darrell Jones – electric guitar (4, 5, 7), acoustic guitar (8)
• Tim May – acoustic guitar (6)
• Nathan Watts – bass guitar (1)
• Joe Chemay – bass guitar (2, 6, 8)
• Nathan East – bass guitar (4)
• John Robinson – drums (1, 5, 7)
• Leon "Ndugu" Chancler – drums (2, 4)
• Paul Leim – drums (3, 6, 8)
• Lenny Castro – percussion (1)
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion (2, 5, 7)
• Rick Shlosser – percussion (5)
• Gene Page – arrangements (2, 6, 9)
• Harry Bluestone – concertmaster (2-9)
• James Anthony Carmichael – arrangements (3, 4, 5, 8), string arrangements (3, 7), horn arrangements (7), rhythm arrangements (7), celeste (8)
• Howard Kenney – backing vocals (1, 5, 7)
• Richard Marx – backing vocals (1, 2, 7, 8)
• Deborah Thomas – backing vocals (2, 3, 5, 7)
• Jimmy Connors – backing vocals (3)
• Kenny Rogers – backing vocals (4), BGV arrangement (4)
• Kin Vassy – backing vocals (4)
• Terry Williams – backing vocals (4)

Horns, strings and woodwinds

• Louise Di Tullo – flute (3, 6, 9)
• Art Maebe – French horn (3, 4, 6, 8, 9)
• Richard Perissi – French horn (3, 6, 9)
• Henry Sigismonti – French horn (3, 6, 9)
• Jim Atkinson – French horn (4, 8)
• David Duke – French horn (4, 8)
• Brian O'Connor – French horn (4, 8)
• William Green – saxophone (5, 7)
• Ernie Watts – saxophone (5, 7)
• Lew McCreary – trombone (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Bill Reichenbach, Jr. – trombone (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Gary Grant – trumpet (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Jerry Hey – trumpet (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Walter Johnson – trumpet (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Warren Luening – trumpet (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Bob Findley – trumpet (5, 7)
• Don Ashworth – woodwinds (4, 8)
• Gene Cipriano – woodwinds (4, 8)
• Gary Herbig – woodwinds (4, 8), saxophone (5, 7)
• Larry Williams – woodwinds (4, 8)
• Jesse Ehrlich – cello (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Armand Kaproff – cello (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Paula Hochhalter – cello (2, 6, 9)
• Dennis Karmazyn – cello (2, 6, 9)
• Arni Egilsson – double bass (2, 6, 9)
• Buell Neidlinger – double bass (2, 6, 9)
• Ray Brown – double bass (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Morty Corb – double bass (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Gayle Levant – harp (2, 4-9)
• Alan DeVeritch – viola (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Allan Harshman – viola (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Virginia Majewski – viola (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Gareth Nuttycombe – viola (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Bonnie Douglas – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Assa Drori – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Endre Granat – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Joy Lyle – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Donald Palmer – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Henry Roth – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Sheldon Sanov – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Jack Shulman – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Paul Shure – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Mari Tsumura-Botnick – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Charles Veal, Jr. – violin (2, 3, 6, 9)
• Rollice Dale – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Henry Ferber – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Ronald Folsom – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• William Henderson – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• William Kurasch – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Erno Neufeld – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Nathan Ross - strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Myron Sandler – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• David Schwartz – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Fred Seykora – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• David Speltz – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Mari Tsumura – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)
• Tibor Zelig – strings (4, 5, 7, 8)

Production

• Producers – James Anthony Carmichael and Lionel Richie
• Production Assistant – Brenda Harvey-Richie
• Recorded and Mixed by Calvin Harris
• Second Recording Engineer – Jim Cassell
• Second Mix Engineers – Michael Johnson, Fred Law and Stephan Smith.
• Additional Mixing – Jane Clark
• Mastered by Bernie Grundman at A&M Studios (Los Angeles, CA).
• Creative Assistant – Rita Leigh
• Art Direction – Johnny Lee
• Photography – David Alexander

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1982–83)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[6]	18
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[7]	21
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[8]	3
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[9]	41
UK Albums (OCC)[10]	9
US Billboard 200[11]	3
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[12]	1

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[13]	4× Platinum	400,000^^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[14]	Gold	10,000^*
South Africa	—	100,000[15]
United Kingdom (BPI)[16]	Platinum	300,000^^
United States (RIAA)[17]	4× Platinum	4,000,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. AllMusic review
2. AllMusic review
3. "Robert Christgau: CG: lionel richie". www.robertchristgau.com.
4. "Lionel Richie: Lionel Richie : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone". 30 November 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-11-30.
5. "楽天が運営するポータルサイト ： 【インフォシーク】Infoseek". Msdb.hp.infoseek.co.jp. 2000-01-01. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
6. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 252. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
7. "Dutchcharts.nl – Lionel Richie – Lionel Richie" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
8. "Charts.nz – Lionel Richie – Lionel Richie". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
9. "Swedishcharts.com – Lionel Richie – Lionel Richie". Hung Medien. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
10. "Lionel Richie | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
11. "Lionel Richie Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
12. "Black LPs". Billboard - November 27, 1982. Billboard Magazine. 27 November 1982. p. 56. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
13. "Canadian album certifications – Lionel Richie – Lionel Richie". Music Canada. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
14. "IFPIHK Gold Disc Award − 1984". IFPI Hong Kong. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
15. "Richie LP Hits Big In South Africa". Billboard. September 13, 1986. Retrieved June 1, 2020 – via Google Books.
16. "British album certifications – Lionel Richie – Lionel Richie". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Lionel Richie in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
17. "American album certifications – Lionel Richie – Lionel Richie". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.