Lionel Richie Biography

Fast Facts

• Named Person of the Year by MusiCares in 2016
• Received the first SAG-AFTRA Foundation Recording Artists Inspiration Award in 2017
• Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994
• Received the 2011 Harvard Foundation Peter J․ Gomes Humanitarian Award
• Received a tennis scholarship to play for Tuskegee Institute, where he studied economics
• Adopted actress Nicole Richie in 1991
• Join his classmates' band The Mystics as a freshman in college
• Quote: "[On his determination] "Growing up if you told me to go left, I would go right․ If you brought me into a room and said there’s one door that I absolutely cannot open, that’s the door I’m going to open․""
• Joined The Commodores in 1968 as a backup singer and saxophonist
• Has supported numerous breast cancer foundations
• Served as a fashion consultant for former South African President Nelson Mandela
• Co-wrote the song "We Are the World" with musician Michael Jackson
• Served as a secret ambassador for Google's Project Fi in 2015