"Lionel Richie"

There used to be very little visibility and control in Treasury. Today, JPMorgan Payments delivers real-time dashboards and control at your fingertips. That's the power of clarity. That's JPMorgan Payments. It's not possible. It sounds like this. You want to know what it sounds like? One hand clapping? It's terrible, right? It's not entertaining at all. So let me bring in the other two hands and let's light this candle. Here we come. How's everybody doing today? It's morning where you are, Jay. So good. Jay, Jay. It is. It's morning and I'm still a little foggy from last night. I had a little too much sugar last night. Oh, no. What do you have? I have a sensitive system. Did you go to Sunday Funday? Yeah. We had a little peach cobbler for dessert and it was great. The end I was saying as I was driving home when Amanda was saying, love the groups there, but you just can't replace Sean or Will in a party dynamic. You can try. You can try. You can try. We've got your headshots there on a couple of C stands. But it's C stands. Still, by the way, still, by the way, you could put cake on the picture in the headshot and it's still probably in there. Somehow your picture would come to life and eat it up. It's like voodoo, Sean. All of a sudden you'd feel a warmth in your stomach. Speaking of voodoo, I watched weapons for the third time in a movie last night. I can't wait to see it. Man. Big fan of that movie. That's accurate. You keep saying how good it is. And you watched it with Franny? Franny soaked it up, loved it. It's a real director's accomplishment. Well, Franny's going away to start. She's going away to college. She's going away to college. I know. I move her in tomorrow. Tomorrow. No way. At least she's going locally here to university here in Los Angeles. And so there might not be tears. I think if I was to fly her somewhere and then fly away, it would be really nice. You don't think that you're going to have tears? I don't think I'm going to have tears. No, because look, as any parent out there pushed them all out at an early age. Yeah, but 17-year-olds, 18-year-olds, they end up doing a lot of sleepouts anyway. So, you know, she's sort of like living here three days a week anyway. Okay. Sleepouts. Sleepouts. What's it called? Sleepouts. Sleepover? Overs, yeah. Sleepout. Hey, can you come over for a sleepout? What are you going to sleep about on the lawn? Sean, was it teary when you left? Did your mom shed tears out of her one eye when you left for college? I think the other one still cried. It just didn't see. In the box. It was in the box. Yeah, it was in the box. It was in the box later. It was pooling. It was pooling in the box. No, I remember my move-in day for college, though. It was like 100 degrees out. Everybody just couldn't wait to be done with everybody. It was like, get out. It's going to be 100 tomorrow when we're shipping furniture up two flights of stairs. Is that what it was with you? Just like carrying crap? Who's you pay to do it? Yeah, exactly. Now, it's going to be me and Amanda and Maple. Is it really? Yeah, three cars worth of stuff. Can I just say that where I'm there, and this is not a hollow offer because I would help. I would help. By the way, I would say a very safe offer. I know, but it's true. I love thousands of miles away. I know, but it is true. It was college was the best time of my life. I loved it. You know, I remember before... You peaked in college. I did. I remember my brother, Mike, was so impatient that before computers and everything, and you had to sign up for classes, he drove the car. There was a line from the building, whatever it is, the administrative building where you sign up for classes, all the way down the entire street. It was like a thousand people waiting in line to sign up for class. He drove the car right up on the lawn, got me out, walked right up to the front and said, hey, I need to sign my brother up for classes. And like, well, there's a line. She's like, yeah, I know, but we were registered to come in. We had an appointment and she just lied his way. She just bullshitted it right away. That sounds like they trying to get an iPhone. No, what do you mean? No, Jason, don't bring it up. Don't let people Google Jason Bateman's jumping line for iPhone in 2007. Wait, what happened? Wait, was it really 2007? Yeah, it was. Amazing. Yeah, so get this. Wait, what month was it? That's a good question. That I don't know. I'm going to say the fall. I bet you could give a good, yeah, because they usually release in the fall, but you're a good guess. But, you got the year down, is that right? Yeah, I like that. Well, that's the year after they came out, right? Yeah, that's the year they came out. So, you know the story is, JB and I, the nice people at Apple had sort of said, hey, we'll set you up with a phone. And Jason said, you know what? I'm going to go to the Grove and I'm going to be a regular guy. And I'm going to wait in line and get my, I'm so excited. Romanticizing the whole queuing up, like Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back, you know, I never went that line. So I was like, okay. And I was like, I'm going to get my delivered to my house a week early. Anyways, which I did. JB goes down, God bless him. God bless this little boy. He goes down to the Grove and he's waiting in line, all excited and diligently, right? And he's there and the employees at the Apple store there go, hey, look, that's Jason Babenline. So they go out to him and they go, hey, man, don't wait here. Come with us. So he kind of like obliges out of being polite. And he goes with them. They bring him into the store and he gets a phone early. Well, wouldn't you know that daily mail or whoever, paparazzi are taking photos of people lining up. And the story comes out. Jason Bateman skips line. He jumped the line. I love that. The story, the story is out before I get back to the office, right, Willie? I got to the office and it was already online. Hey, man. I was, I was kidding. Jumping out of the car. But wait a minute, here's the best part of the story, that you didn't want the free phone sent to your house because you wanted to be a real person. Then you went in the line and you got out of the line anyway. All right. Well, these nice people were like, hey, and there was a photographer in the bushes. It was taking pictures of me anyway, like in line. And so I probably should have put two and two together. It was one of the best. Honestly, it felt like such a victory to me. And then the next year that they issued a phone, our nice person at Apple called us and said, hey, so we want to send you a new phone. And we had a staff meeting with, I think it was Tim Cook at the time. And he said, hey, everybody, let's not pull another Bateman. Let's make sure we get the VIP phones out. No way. I became a verb at the fucking. I loved it. I loved it. PR fuck up. So at Apple are now called Bateman. No, but they did everything right. It was me that said, no, thanks for your name. Well, and now on our, now we have the best cell phones. We can listen to our podcast on our cell phone and use SmartList Mobile. We can use SmartList Mobile. Why wouldn't you? Because you're going to get less than half a month. Wait, what's SmartList Mobile? What do you mean? I don't understand. Well, you have a provider. Let's say you have a provider. Like ATT Verizon. One of these big, I guess, if you had to. Yeah, but why not save money? But why not? Yeah. So why not save money? Cheaper. It's less than half. What if I want to keep my number? No problem. Why are you so, why are you so tired and believe? I just feel like on the outside chance, people haven't heard our pitch. I guess I'm trying to not be annoying. Keep our number. You can keep your number. SmartList Mobile, you can cut your cell phone bill in half. More than half. Quick sign up. Is that what it is? Yeah, it's really quick. You get the app. Jason, do you like apps? I love it. We have a smartList Mobile app. SmartList Mobile is the best. Go sign up, everybody. Okay, let's get to our guest. Okay, our guest, by the way, speaking of the best, we, I have brought today an absolute heavy weight. I'm so excited about this. This guy is a just bona fide, decades-long international superstar. Okay, he is unbelievable. He is one, an academy award, a Golden Globe, multiple Grammys, Academy American Music Award things. He's written so many hit songs. He was in a band, then he had an incredible solo career. Every one of them, then he wrote songs for all the biggest stars, and he wrote songs for himself, and he had the hugest. He's one of the biggest record-selling artists of all time, and I'm going to start to list some of his, starting with his old band all the way through his other, he wrote Easy, Salon, Three Times the Lady Still. He wrote Lady First Lady. A lot of Richie. You are, yes, yes, I love all my longest, Lino Richie. Oh my God. Good morning, sir. Good morning, guys. That was, the hamming up of the opening was just amazing. Jason, the story about the cell phone is hilarious. Listen, Lionel, we'd love to welcome to the show, but more importantly, we'd love to get you signed up with SmartListMobile. That's true. That's true. That's what you want to say about money. You look at this beautiful studio you've got there. Is that the recording studio? It's the recording studio. Oh, my God. This is the hideout down here when I want to get totally away from everybody, the doors closed, and don't commit. You are the man. You've been the man for so long. It is such an honor to have you, Mr. Lionel Richie, here on the show with us. Well, we just say Jason, Sean, and Will, having the three of you in front of me right now is, and listening, is just probably the trip of my life because I really admire the fact that you're talented and you can kind of improv so seamlessly. Well, but it's just dribble. It's just talking. You're about to get 50 minutes of it. Well, it's such an honor to have you. Such a pleasure to have you. You're here in Los Angeles, yes? I'm in Los Angeles, yes. You've lived here how long? I feel like I know where your house is, too. I know exactly where you're at. I know, too. I've been here since 1981. In the same house? Not in the same house. No, no, no, no, no. I'm doing the start off in the guest house, then you go from there to the main house, and then from there, OK, I'm out of here. So, you know, a couple of rentals here and there, and then finally you ended up here. Beautiful. Where did you start? Where were you born? Where'd you get raised? Tuskegee, Alabama, right on the campus. Really? Yeah, so that's right. So you grew up on the campus in Tuskegee. Right on the campus. It was, well, I shouldn't say right on. It was across the street from the gates of the campus, and since then the campus has surrounded my place, my house. And why is that? Your house is not, your parents, are they still around? Are they still with us? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not a bad aunt and grandma, but the memories are right there still in the house. I still own the house. Do you really? The house is still on the campus, and people pass by and go, there's Lionel Richie's house. Have they offered to buy the house, too? They want to absorb it and like build a new building right there for the school? You know exactly why I want to hang on to it, because, you know, every time they say, Lionel, that's a wonderful spot, and I go, mm-hmm, tear the house down and put another building up. We're not going to do that. But actually, I grew up right across the street from the president of the university's house. Oh my God. And then as time went on, they moved to the big mansion at the other end of the campus. But I mean, for the longest time, I was there with the... What campus? I don't... What is it? The University of Alabama? No, no, Tuskegee University. Tuskegee University. And what was your connection? Did you have a connection to Tuskegee University? Did I have a connection? Oh my God, guys. Yeah. It was Tuskegee Airmen. This is my... The moms and dads of my whole little group. Number two, believe it or not, on the deed, of the house, you've got the Washington family who had the house before my grandmother had it. And so... And grandfather. So it was one of those things where it kind of started right there on the campus with everything else. And of course, in 1923 is when they received the house. Wow. And I didn't show up at that time. I must assure you that I keep telling my kids, I don't know Abraham Lincoln, but... It was pretty late after that that I showed up, but it was wonderful, man, just to have that history in the house. And you went to college there, right? You went to Tuskegee. Oh yeah. And you went to Tuskegee. And that's where you kind of got your... That's where you got your start. I remember reading this thing you were saying, I want to mention that your book is coming out, I want to say September 30th, your book, truly. You named it. Yeah. Oh, that. And... Is this your first book? My first book. Listen, I'm telling you, if it takes me the rest of my life, have you ever done a book before? No. No, he's never read a book. No, never. So... It's left to right, top to bottom, right? I'm going to read him a book later on tonight. It's going to be awesome. So let me just tell you that it is painful because they keep asking you, and then what happened? Right. And then you want to kind of go, okay, I don't want to talk about that anymore. How is your recall? Because I figure my recall is going to be so bad, I'm going to have to be in some sort of hypnosis to pull it all out. You know, it all kind of worked out where, you know, the stories kind of fell into place, you know. Yeah. Once you, between the band, between going, growing up in Tuskegee, between various episodes of that, and then of course meeting and greeting around the world, it kind of fell into place, man. You start calling off names, and then the next name shows up, and it takes a minute. Every once in a while, you have to make a phone call and go, hey, who was that guy? What was that guy, that lady's name? You have to call somebody that remembers. Who was the most helpful? Jason does that at home when his kids walk by. He says, who's that? Which was that? Who was, was there one person that was the most helpful for you in recalling some of these things? Yeah, I have a couple of homeboys still in Tuskegee. It calls off the names of everybody in life. Milton Carver Davis was one of them, and Harold Boone was another one, and they just kind of said, oh no, that's the guy's name. And then believe it or not, Ronald Appred from the Commodore has helped me out tremendously, because he kept saying, no, that's not what happened. Everybody starts calling it. Because as time goes on, it becomes, yeah, and I did this, and remember we did that, and I go, Rich, Rich, you weren't there. Right, right, right. You're making up memories. You're like creating memories. I'm creating my, and remember I came on stage, and I told the crowd, Rich, you weren't there. Is that what people closest to you call you, Rich? No, they call me, actually, Skeet is my nickname. Really? Where that come from? Believe it or not, okay, this is part of that painful book. Okay, so what happens is that your father walks in the room, looks at the baby, and he goes, go on. Sorry, hang on one second, Sean, father is a guy in the room. So he walks in, there's the baby, and most guys would say, okay, yo, killer or Bruce, or give me a rough name. My dad goes, my Ski Boo. My Ski Boo. And I said, I even questioned him, I said, dude, of all the names, why Ski Boo? He said, he just came out that way. Well, anyway, I am now in high school. I carry Ski Boo all the way through elementary school, which is painful, painful, I tell you. And then I get to high school, and the guy said, you're going to get killed in high school with Ski Boo. So we're going to change your name to Skeet, and that was it. And then it was never Lionel or... No, no, no. Formality. I like Skeet, that's kind of cool. Let me give you the other name, so you'll know. Anytime you have a guy named Fungus, another guy named Cookie Man, if I say, you're following me. So Skeet, I got away clean with Skeet, okay. Those are your two other best friends? Oh, no, we had P-Head, we got some names, P-Head and Sonny Boy. We got some names. What a crew. But believe it or not, can I tell you, these guys went on to become great lawyers. One guy is a biomedical nuclear engineer for NASA. Come on, you know. Fungus, obviously. So he was the smartest guy in the stupid group. So we're the rest of the guys. So getting back to recall, how good were you at keeping all your memorabilia? News clippings and pictures and things like that. Good. Got them all. You do. Really? How did you know to do that? Was that a mom or a dad thing? That was like, son, keep your stuff. It was mom, dad, grandma, cousins, aunts, uncles. They kept every clipping and as they kind of said, I'm wrapping up the house here. So scrapbook after scrapbook after scrap, but we've got volumes of the first time I did American Bandstand, the first time of this and the first time I played it. That's so great. They got it all. And you got it in the book there too. You got pictures of all that stuff. You know what? That's in the, believe it or not, that's the second book. That's coming. Wow. Smart. Let me ask Will and Jay, do you guys do it or do you have family members that archive your stuff? No. My mom was pretty good about it and I think I know where some of that stuff is. I've got some, but I think. The views, Sean? I've kind of stopped. Scotty does every single thing I do. Oh, that's so great. That's great. Believe it or not, you want to lose some of it. It's like I'm living with single white male. Yeah. You have candles under it? I think with one eye open. Wait, wait, Lyra, I want to get into Skeet if I may. No, I'm kidding. I want to get into, so you start. That scared me by the way. Okay. I'm sure. I love that you started, so I read some excerpts from your book and you were talking about you were, you owned a saxophone and you don't, you didn't describe yourself as a player. You describe yourself as a blower and these guys were like, hey man, we might. No, no, no. I hope I didn't write blower in the book. No, no, I'm. That's a title of the book in my mind. No, I said saxophone holder. Holder. Holder. Yeah, it's a big difference. It's a big difference. Mind's blowing. It's still a tricky title. Holder, blower. But, but, but you just kind of had it. You didn't really know how to play. You kind of were able to, you had a musical sensibility to you and you were able to mimic from stuff that you heard. Is that true? By ear and not only saxophone, but by piano as well. I cannot read or write music to that point. Wow. Amazing to me. So what makes it all kind of weird is that when you can pick up a horn and once you figure out, you can now play along with sunny stick or you play along with cold train or you play along with you go, okay. And then when you sit down to the piano, you know, it's, you know, once you find out that some of the greatest artists in the world cannot read or write music, you know, the Smokey, there's Paul McCartney. Once you start going down that list of folks, you know, it's a pretty rare fraternity sorority, you know. Now, so do you, had, did you ever learn or want to learn the names of course, like the 575 or the 164, the sharp seventh or whatever that. We don't know. I can, I can say it. I can, you know, I can talk about it. But the point is my problem was ADD or ADHD, which we didn't know back then. Right. So that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that. Okay. That's great. Now try to read that on a page with dots. So tracking was the worst thing in the world for me. It wasn't that I couldn't read it. It's just I couldn't read it fast enough to play it. Right. Interesting. So when you get in a room, I just forgot all the... Can you read a chord chart? Yeah. Forget about it. Forget it. You can't read a chord chart, which just says this chord and this chord and this chord. I can get it done faster by standing in a room. With a group of musicians, hum it to them. Wow. That's amazing. That's really cool. And they are so gifted that what you do is by the time I finished the hum, they've already played it six times over. Well, that's what I'm blown away that all of the hit songs that we all know through all of these years that came out of your head, like it's just fascinating to think about how did those melodies and those things come to into your head? It's, it's, it's just amazing. That's the, that's the weirdness of the, of the God gift. You know what I'm saying? There's, I look at, I look at actors, I look at comedians, I look at, and I go, you know, how did you put that together in your head? And sometimes they say that was improv, you know, half of that was this. But how do you explain it? Do you just hum whatever you're feeling? For me, for me, if I told you there's a radio station playing right now, and all I have to do is tap over into it. Now it's only 12 notes. Here's the magic of this. It's not like I can go cheat on a lot of words and stuff. There's only 12 notes here, guys. And so what happens is you have to know all you need is four chords. And that's a whole album, you know, believe it or not. So what happens is just knowing what notes to put together and believe it or not, I can hear that. Now that's amazing. You know what I'm saying? And we will be right back. This is a paid ad by BetterHelp. You know, you've heard me talk a lot about my mom and how funny she was and how much we love her. But boy, was she a huge inspiration to me. She gave me the tools I needed for the work ethic I have and the funny bone in my body. She's one of the best human beings, if not the best human being I've ever known. Women deserve to be celebrated. But we should also recognize that many women carry emotional weight at work, in relationships, in families, and in the roles they play for others. Whatever you're navigating, career expectations, parenting, caregiving, or more, Therapy with BetterHelp can help you check in with yourself, unpack what's feeling heavy, and build healthier pathways forward. BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform and handles the initial therapist matching work for you. Just take a short questionnaire to share your needs and preferences, and thanks to BetterHelp's industry-leading match fulfillment rate, they usually get your match right the first time. You can also feel confident knowing BetterHelp therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully qualified. Your emotional well-being matters. Find support and feel lighter in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash smartlist. That's a better H-E-L-P dot com slash smartlist. And now back to the show. Have you enjoyed how it's changed over the years in your own head? Because any natural gift does morph sometimes to the better, sometimes to the worse. As your taste evolves and as you allow yourself to be influenced by things that you like and as we get older and tempo and all that stuff, have you enjoyed that process? How your music has changed a bit? In love with it. What happens is, remember, it's all texture, it's all sounds. It's all about sonics. I started off probably about the first five years, six years on a grand piano. Got it? And then after probably Penny Lover, probably after that, never played that again, grand piano because technology came in and you can get sounds on the keyboard. So from that point on, I never played the same keyboard twice. Do you remember moments, like Sean was saying, where the songs come from? Do you have, you must have memories of when you first started to write or hum or come up with endless love, let's say, or all night long? Do you remember, were you standing in the kitchen and you were getting a glass of milk? You know what I mean? Yeah, it's so many stories about, I'll use, probably all night long. I'll use Hello as a perfect example. Yeah, great song. You know, I wrote, again, my co-producer James Carmichael was late for the little writing session we were having and he walks in the door and I'm just playing on the piano and I said, Hello, is it me you're looking for? And I played the chords. No way. And I was waiting for him to say, yeah, I'm here. Okay, let's get started. He said, finish that song. Wow. So you already had the melody and the lyrics just came as kind of a joke to... All I had was Hello, is it me you're looking for? Which is the corniest thing I could ever think about in life. Oh my God, it's so great though. Okay, so if you really want to know the backstory of this, which I will tell you, the backstory to this is I didn't like it. I hated it. Wow. And he kept saying finish it, finish it. And I said, James, I'll be the laughing stock of the business. Who's going to write a song called Hello, is it me you're looking for? And so enough, I finished the song and then I fell in love with it and he hated it. Because he was going, okay, because he put the strings on it. It was very heavy, heavy, heavy. So are you ready for this? We threw it off the album and I wrote a song called Truly. Oh my God. Of course. Yeah, no way. And then of course the next album we said, well, let's go back and put that hello thing on. And that became the national anthem of as I walk around the world. Hello Lionel. Hello Lionel. Yeah, it's amazing. Of course, although Truly was the number one single too. Truly was the first, believe it or not, Grammy. Wow. Oh wow. After all these songs, everyone said, well you won the Grammy. No, no, no, no. You go to the Grammys and you just kind of sign up for your seat. But they don't give me anything for the first 10 years of your life. And then finally you walk up one day and they call off Truly. And I said, well, that's pretty cool. And that was the beginning of the ride. Is that often the way that it has worked for you where you come up with, you write a bunch of melodies and then you write a bunch of lyrics and you sort of find what lyrics go with what melodies? Are they that separate? My mother was an English teacher. So I caught hell just trying to go to school every day and using the proper English. So mom, can I go somewhere? I don't know. Can you? That kind of situation. So you know, my problem with trying to write lyrics was, or should I say write a song is, what's the subject? So whatever the subject is, that's the most important thing. It's called the hook. So if you write, you know, all night long, great, or you write hello, whatever the case may be. Then if you have the hook, you're right now, the verses. There's only four lines per verse, but you have to go back and put that together. My problem was I would never write the verses until the Commodore said, we like it because there's nothing worse than finishing a song. And you get halfway through it. Now you spent your whole life on this thing. And all of a sudden they say, we hate it. Next. So I would just go, here's the hook. I'm not going to put any more work in. I'm not putting any more work. And the actual music for said lyrics just comes much later. You just figure out what melody might match this story. It's da-dahs. It's old da-dahs. And occasionally you go, perfect example is Lady. You know, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Da-da-da. That's that. Aha. You just don't know the word. You follow me? Yeah. You know, Penny. It's almost like a call and answer. Yeah. And you just figure out that now there's some, what we call God's words, which is why you're writing the song, some mumbles comes out in real words. Yeah. Well, you want to hold those as much as possible. Yeah. Because that's the true essence of where the other side was trying to direct you really. But what about the great luck that your ear has such incredible taste in what a melody sounds like. And you also have a voice that is incredible as well. Like you've got both of these enormous talents. It's just, it's a perfect story. There are a few others, but not many, my God. You have just done my gratitude mantra. First thing I get up in the morning, the last thing I say at night, you know, how did it ever happen to me? Holy crap. I mean, you know, I mean, you think about very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very serious things in life. And you don't really think about it. It was someone said years ago when you're 1920, 25 and you win Wimbledon and you go, wow, you know, what are we going to eat tonight? Yeah. And then you turn 50 and you go, I want Wimbledon. Yeah. Yeah. You know, what is only looking back that you realize, holy crap. That's right. What was that all about? Okay, for you, I'm so glad that you, you know, we ask people that sometimes on the show, you know, do you allow yourself to pat yourself on the back and appreciate where you are, where you've been, where you're going, all that stuff. It sounds like you've got such a healthy relationship with and perspective on your life and your gifts. And that was going to be my next question. You know, you just, you seem like such a lovely man. Would you tell that to my kids, please? I would suspect, I would suspect JB, if I can jump onto your question before you finish it and just say what I noticed is you mentioned early on that you got all your old buddies back and where you grew up and that you're really still in touch with. I forget it was Fungus. Oh, Fungus is among us. Yes. Fungus and all these guys. And I think the idea that you stay so in tune and in touch with them probably has a lot to do with getting their perspective. Well. The idea that you have. Yeah. The beautiful part about this now, when I tell you how long we've known each other, then you're really going to know how strange it is and wonderful at the same time. I've known these guys since preschool, elementary school, high school, college. No way. Wow. That's really cool. I mean, honestly, and by the way, every month we have a Zoom call together. Really? And we talk about, just like you're sitting here talking now, we've got Zoom calls and we're sitting there talking about what you're doing and what's happening and who's doing what and what hurt you. Sorry, Shani. My question was going to be really more about like the, how many times did you, was it ever tempting? Because we live in such a permissive culture and business, you know, like you're allowed to be your worst part often. Right. And was it, were you conscious of making the choice to stay as, sorry to use the word again, lovely as you are, you know, like it could be because it's easier. It's to be lazy and to be nasty and to allow people to sort of, you know, clean up after you and care for it. Like, do you know what I mean? Like you're, there's just, it's a choice to stay kind. I wonder if that would, would there struggles with that? Well, I'll be honest with you. I kind of grew up in a magical family a little bit here. I used to go back and ask my grandmother every day. I said, grandma, how do you have so much wisdom? You know, so much about life, but you've not been around the world. I've been around the world. How are you able to hold on to your, your core? And she said, if you learn how to treat people right at home, the rest of the world is easy. An asshole is an asshole, you know, and period. And so again, we're in this business. We're called, it's called the entertainment business. We run across enough assholes every single day. So we kind of, if you, the motto that I have, if you can spot one, you make sure you don't act like it or... Yeah. We came across an asshole recently and let me tell you something. I'm not joking. And we, the three of us sort of appreciated getting that contrast of seeing that, that great A-hole being in a way gave us the perspective. And you know, it's funny, I was saying to my, one of my sons, my 15 year old, and I was driving to work and I said, hey man, I said, we're just talking about moving through life. And I said, you know what, dude, if the only piece of advice I can give you is no matter if you keep pushing out love, even in moments where you feel like you're not getting what you get, if you push it out, it creates a world where you get it back from the universe a million times. So love on people, be kind to people when you run into them, talk to people, not just here at home, we have a loving environment, but also out in the world and it will come back and you, and your experience and don't do it with the hope of getting a result, just do it. That's right. I had the wonderful pleasure of watching that. We have to go. Sorry. That was the last, kidding. And no, go on, go on, go on. I had the pleasure of watching my dad. You know, he was one of those guys that, you know, he, I just couldn't figure him out at the beginning. He would walk up to people and, you know, you could tell that he was a lover of people. And so he would come home some days and bring a man home to the house and he would, Bert put on, that's my mother Alberta, Bert put on another plate. This is Bill, Bill, Bert, Lionel, Deborah. And so he said, I'll be back. I'm going upstairs for a minute. And so here's the guy at the table, Bill, and so okay. And so my mother starts asking questions. So did you, were you, do you work with Lionel? I'm a junior, so my dad's Lionel. Okay. So have you worked with, are you working with Lionel? No, no, ma'am. Were you in the military with Lionel? No, ma'am. Are you all friends from where he grew up? No, ma'am. Well, where did you meet Lionel? Why are you here? He said, well, I just met him about at Kroger's. So now my mother leaves the table to go upstairs and ask my dad. Yeah. Who the hell is this guy? Who's this guy? Right. And of course, Deborah and I, my sister, we go upstairs to hear this conversation because we want to know too. And so what the conversation was, he's going to do a job interview tomorrow and he needs a suit. Oh. And my dad is reaching in the closet to get a suit that fits him in a tie and stuff. Wow. That's amazing. And my mother would say this argument, well, Lionel, it's one of your favorite suits. He says, I can get another suit. Yeah. The man needs a suit to look the part. Lionel, I am, I am. I love that so much. So you had a great example your whole life. I was just telling somebody this story. It reminds me, so forgive me, but it's just, I love that. And my grandfather, my mom's dad, who I was really close, I was just telling somebody the last couple of days of the story. He was a great guy and I was really, really close with him. And he used to bring guys back. He'd bring, he helped out. He wasn't an alcoholic. He'd bring guys back from a halfway house and make my grandmother bring them, make them a meal and he'd let them work. He'd pay them and then he'd talk to them. He died at 97. Wow. Everybody who were his friends, his peers had died long years before. And I was just saying, the remarkable thing was that church was packed. Yeah. Because he reached, he did stuff for people, young people all the time. I couldn't believe it. I was like, this guy's 97. This church is packed. Yeah, that's so cool. You know? And it just, ah. That's a testament to his, the whole life. Yeah. In college, I would bring guys home and no questions. Sean, Sean, Sean, Sean, Sean. We're just going to a break really. Sean, Sean, Sean. Wait. Yeah, there was a whole different story. Sean, Sean, Sean, Sean, Sean. I want to come back to this part. I want to come back. No suits. No suits. I was giving no suits. No, you were taking off suits. Hey listen, Lionel, can you, can you, um, ripping them up? Can we, you started, your first band was the Commodore. Your first big band was the comic. Can you talk a little bit about your experience, how that happened and then how you gradually moved away and went on a solo career. What would, just walk us through that a little bit, if you don't mind. Well, yeah, I was gonna say that's a whole session by itself. Well, okay, I'm back in school, and it's my freshman year. And of course, I run across this guy on campus and he says, do you play any instruments? And I said, well, yeah, I'm a fabulous horn holder. And I didn't tell him that I brought the horn to school to learn how to play it, but he didn't ask that, so I didn't tell him. He's horn holder. So, he said, well, we're starting a band. This is gonna be a freshman talent show. And basically what the freshman talent show was, is that all the seniors in our class would come in and laugh at the freshmen. So, we put this band together. And believe it or not, at the freshman talent show, we killed it. Killed it. We just surprised everybody. Well, you guys just had chemistry? Like you just... Just vibe. That's wild. And back then, all you had to play was James Brown and you got it. So, you guys covered a few songs? We did nothing but covers. And so, the beautiful part about this was, there was a guy in the audience who was in a band called the Jays, which is the seniors, the greatest band in the world on campus. And so, these guys were graduating and it was two guys that were gonna stay around because they wanted to put a new band together. Michael Gilbert and Jimmy Johnson. And the next thing we got, a couple of guys, got phone calls. Hey, can you guys stop by? We wanna talk to you about putting a band together. Well, to get a call from them was like it. Right? And so, we put the band together. Next thing we know, we have a band called the Commodores. That's just nuts. We played every sorority house, every frat house, every campus from here to there. And then how did the songwriting started? So you're doing covers and all of a sudden you're like, hey, we should write our own tunes. Yeah. Well, that's a whole story. I mean, it's good though, because we could cover everything. You want Sly Stone, we got Sly Stone. What do you want? Temptations with temptation. You want three dog night, we got three dog night. Whatever you need, we can play it. And then it got to the point where we're trying now to figure out, okay, I think it's time for us to put a record out, right? It's gonna happen. And so we started doing auditions. Well, we went to one audition that changed the whole trajectory of what we're gonna do. And that was Philly International, Gamelin Huff. And we went in and we played every song. We killed it. It's bam, we nailed it. And right after that, something happened. The guy came back and he said, guys, you all killed it. We said, right, we got a recording contract, right? He said, no, he said, what we were thinking the whole time you were playing was, cause by the way, you sound just like Sly Stone. You sound just like the temps. You sound just like, who are you guys? What do you sound like? Wow. And I said, ah, he said, I mean, I mean, we just waiting on what you guys sound like. That was the mission of the only way we find out who we are is we gotta start writing. And then did you guys sit down and say, okay, well, who, what songs do we really like covering? Which are the ones we really explode with? You know, is it more of a Sly sound? Is it more of a, yeah. That's when the individuality came in. That's when the individual started catching up. Some guys loved the funk. Some guys love, I'm a James Taylor nut. I was a Carol King thing. You know, I was a, you know, I could name it. You know, so I was over there. And then I realized, okay, I'm a Stevie person. I'm a Marvin person. You know, that was my wheelhouse. And then as time went on, okay, now I'm an Elton person. Now I'm a, you know, I was in that piano man kind of thing. Sure. And so I would kind of bring in those kind of songs. Now the joke with all of this was, if you want to get a record on the Commodore album, don't try to do anything up tempo because everybody had 10 up tempo songs. So I figured my niche, okay, I'll bring the only slow song they have. Guaranteed I have a record on them. Because you got to come down a little bit to go back up again when you put it together. You got to have that in the album. So the mid tempo, I got the mid tempo, kill it. I got it, all right. And as time went on, Brick House, we wrote that together as a group. But mainly the mid section of this whole thing was covered by, okay, I got you. The only thing happening was when the slow song came out, that was the hit. Wow. And then in that time when you were writing those songs, when did you, cause you also wrote some song, like you wrote, you wrote for Kenny Rogers. You wrote famously, you wrote Lady. You did? Yeah. God bless. When did you start writing for other artists outside of your own, you know? Well, Kenny was an interesting story because of the fact that it was not supposed to be for Kenny, it was supposed to be for the Commodores, yet another slow song for the Commodores. He's doing air quotes, by the way, just for listeners. Thank you, I forgot, nobody can see this. And so what happens from here, the guys walk in and announce no more slow songs. Okay, so that eliminates the brother right here gone. And so now I decided I'm gonna put out a religious song called Jesus's Love. So I went left of that and put out a church song. Meanwhile, I got a phone call from Kenny Rogers. Do you have one of those songs, man? I just need, right? And I said, Kenny, I have it, but I don't have time. We're gonna go on tour. And I don't really have time to do this, but I'll call you when I get back. Two weeks later, the drummer falls off of his motorcycle, if you can believe, drummers and motorcycles. And I called Kenny back and said, I'm back from tour. I got it, right? I got it. And so the song was called Baby. Instead of Lady. That's all I had, Baby, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you. Ba da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da. That's it. And I walk into the studio with him and I'm used to pitching for Commodores. Yeah, right. So he said, so where's the song you got for me? I said, Baby, excuse me. No, no, no, no, excuse me. He told me how much he loved his wife. And at the time she said, he's a fool. She's a lady. I mean, a real lady. Okay, now what's the name of your song? I said, lady. Working baby. Come on, you gotta break it work. I love that. You know, when I was 24 years old, I toured with Kenny Rogers. I was a Christmas elf in his Christmas tour. You played a little elf and you'd come out and you'd bring him up. And I'd sing, that's right. The microphone and a little gift box. Sean, just give us a little taste, Sean. Just give us a little taste. Well, we'd open the Christmas session with many little Christmas, right? This very minute handles in the wind. And then I was always high. I like every show I was high on my mind. But Kenny was really nice. He was a really good guy. Yeah, that's all. I have many, many stories, but not from that time. He's that guy. You could have stories forever. I could talk forever. Yeah. You guys were good friends for a long time. Is that right? Forever. Oh, really? Oh, that's great. He was such a nice guy. He was not only my friend, but one of my biggest mentors really. We'll be right back. And back to the show. You wrote a lot of songs like All Night Long and Dancing on the Scene. A lot of sort of party. Were you part of a party vibe? I was the party animal. What are you talking about? Yeah, you know what's so funny? Everyone keeps thinking, oh, you know, Lionel, it's really nice because you're such a sweet guy. Listen, man, I hung out with P. Funk. Okay, it's Parliament Funkadelics. I mean, you know, when you're in, Rick James, I mean, come on guys, that's the class. I mean, yeah. For sure. Where were these years? So you'd left Alabama. Are you in Los Angeles now during a lot of the Commodore stuff? I would say from 70 to probably 75 was like everybody's gonna die or everybody's gonna live through it. You know what I'm saying? This was in LA or we in New York? No, it's across the country. LA, New York, you know, we were all touring. But the only guys that didn't make it till late was the Commodores. P. Funk was already in motion three years before we made it. And so, you know, Bootsy Collins, I mean, think about this. This is an era where, you know, to get the phone call and say, I'm sorry, this so-and-so died. That was everyday occurrence. Right. But at the same time, you know, you asked the question, how did I get through it? You know, it's just the fear of dying, you know? Because that's what's at the other end of everything you wanna try there. But it was such an amazing period because you got a chance to see either what you wanna do or what you shouldn't do, or, you know, cause what's the end result? You're gonna die. It's not too much to think about. I wanted to ask you, you know, I watch a lot of documentaries and one of the best ones I've ever seen my whole life was the making of We Are the World. And I know that people probably come up to you now because it just came out like a year ago or two years ago. God, time is flying. Yeah, it was one year ago. Tracy should know that Lionel, you wrote that with Michael Jackson. Jackson, right, right. And as I'm watching, I'm sure, I'm so sorry to like, bug you about it, but I just- Please, bug me. I'm not sorry enough. It's just incredible that you put, you with Quincy, put that group of people together at a time when there were no cell phones, no computers, no, it was literally just phone calls and I hope they call back and then I hope they show up. I hope they show up. And they did. And it's one of the most famous songs in the history of the world. You know, what was that like taking that on? I mean, it's just like a massive mountain to climb. There's such a wonderful feeling of naive. There's such a wonderful feeling of, you don't know it's gonna be a disaster, because there's a certain time in your life when you go, this is gonna be the greatest thing in the world. And you just hang on to it. And by the way, when we finish this song, we're gonna save the world. We're gonna wipe out hunger. I mean, think about this. We're all there to wipe out hunger and this is gonna happen. And then we started getting into the process of doing it after we finally get all these fabulous artists together. I mean, that one night was a mountain and a half to climb. Yeah. One night. And I didn't get one night. What time did you finish like five, six, seven in the morning? It was seven o'clock, eight o'clock in the morning. We didn't start until two because I was hosting the American Music Awards. The American Music Awards, yeah. So from seven that morning to go into rehearsal the following morning, I had rehearsal all the way up until five o'clock for when we went on the air. We go on the air. I do the American Music Awards when it's over. Excuse me, by the way, in the middle of all this one, six of these crazy awards. And then at one o'clock in the morning, drive over to A&M Studios and we've got showtime. I mean, from that point on, I'm walking in the door and are they there or not? And you have to explain the song probably cold to all of them, right? And this is gonna be your part and this is gonna be your part. All they had was if they got a cassette, think about that. If you got the cassette, you're doing good. Most of them showed up and just said, okay, it's Quincy Michael Lionel, okay, I'll be there. Most of them didn't hear the song until they got there. So that's just shows you blind faith. And you just stayed up all night. This is the mid-80s. I wonder how you guys stayed up all night. It's crazy to think. You know, and the great words and the great words of my dear friend, okay, now where are the drugs? Okay, we were talking about Roscoe's chicken and waffles. He said, yes, that sounds good. Where were the drugs? So then you were up for 24 hours, maybe 25, 26. Yeah, yeah. And that was called the break, but we didn't fall apart until about 10, 11 o'clock the next day. Cause now it's over, it's out, the baby's born, you know, we have it. You know, now we, of course, we gotta put it together later. But the fact is the hardest part was getting it on tape. Yeah, that was the hardest part. And then how was the, it's reaching its effect, the desired effect was accomplished, yes. Oh, killed. The money that it earned and the hunger that it alleviated. Yeah, it's still playing. It was beyond beyond. I remember calling Quincy on the phone and I said, okay, they were saying, you know, we raised 10 million. Wow, okay. 10 million, we did 20 million, 20 million. Wow, wow. We did 30 million, 30 million, 30 million in 1980. Wow, that's like forever, you know. So I remember calling Quincy after we got to a crazy number and I said, Quincy, did we say we're gonna give half the money away or all the money? And Quincy said, don't try it, don't try it, Skeet. Don't try it. They'll run us out of town. Hey, Sean, Sean, out of curiosity these days, what are you using to mop up hunger? Like is it just a... I'm just using my shirt or whatever kind of what I'm wearing at the moment. Like a sloppy joe or... Yeah. You know, it's an incredible... It was an impossible time. You have to understand everything was, and I would say the next thing that made it work, no one saw it coming. Yeah. Back then we didn't have cell phones. Right. We didn't have live streaming. So no one saw this coming. So we can sneak up on the world. And so it was... I remember being a kid. I remember watching those, watching you guys and watching Band-Aid and all that stuff and thinking like seeing all these superstars together because we didn't have social media, because we didn't have any of it. You were like, oh my God, there's Lionel Richie and there's Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and Cindy Lopper and you just go down all these people and they're all in the same room. It was a mind blow. Get this all in the same room with no managers, no lawyers, no glam squad, no nothing. It was like, and I refer to it as your first day of elementary school. Right. And your mother dropped you off, and you gotta go in and kind of deal with the rest of the kids on your own. I mean, Dylan was about to have a heart attack. I mean, but Bob showed up. Make that very clear. Springsteen, we're all the steveys, we're all the Ray Charles, we're all there. And we had to kind of walk in and get used to each other. Did you see a few of them at the AMAs earlier and then say, hey, I'm expecting you in a few hours and take it easy at the party? I saw a few. And the ones that were coming off tour made it difficult. In other words, Stevie, okay, I got it. Michael, okay, but is Dylan gonna show up? He's not known for, like, is he, he might, he might not. Springsteen is coming from his last concert in Madison Square Garden. Wow. But what am I saying? Stevie was in Philadelphia. There's a snowstorm in Philadelphia, he might not get out. Wow. Follow me? And by the way, we have no cell phone to know exactly where he is. Right. But you've got contingencies as far as like, well then, Cindy Lauper will sing this verse. Or he, yeah. I mean, it could have been the train wreck of life. Yeah. It was wild to see Wayland Jennings walk out. By the way, it wasn't wild at all. Wayland was true to his, Wayland was, he was walking on ice just a little bit because he was there because of Willie. Right? Willie said, he's gonna be great. And everything was fine. You know, good old boy, he's ready to go. And then we started, we're gonna put some Swahili in there with Stevie walks in. And the point we said was, don't veer off course. Well, Stevie didn't get that memo. And so what happened was, Stevie comes in and says, we need a little, some African phrasing. Tutu wa no no Willie Moingu. Right, I remember that. Tutu wa no no Willie Moingu. And we said that about three times. And Willie said, ain't no good old boy ever sang no Swahili, I'm out of here. And he left. No way. No way. And the joke was, it wasn't Swahili, but it didn't matter. It didn't sound like good old boys. So I'm out. But we all, when Willie said, well, there goes, well, there goes whale and I said, okay. Wait, wait, wait, I wanna know what the, I wanna know what the speaking of like, like this sort of like just like nonsense or words. There was only, I think it's an all night long way to go. There's that part of it goes. And the red, the baby. Oh, Tom Bolite said the moya. Yeah. What is that? Ne jambo jambo. It's a wonderful phrase that has gone around the world. That means absolutely nothing. Yeah. Say it again, say it again. No way, no way, say it again. Tom Bolite said the moya. Yeah, jambo jambo. The topate always go with. Oh, jambonite. Tom Bolite said the moya, right? Now here's the joke. The joke was I am now trying to find some African stuff, right? And so I go in and I go, let me call the UN. I figured out a call out and I said, I need how stupid I was. I need some phrasing, some African dialect that says, infectious party. And the guy said, Lionel, there's 101 African dialects. I said, okay, so let me get this straight. So one part of Africa, he says, one tribe doesn't know what another tribe is saying. Okay, thank you very much. I hang up the phone, call my friend from Jamaica. I said, when Bob Marley says, yeah boy, yanzi yamonye ye, ye, ye, ye, ye, ye, ye, what is he saying? He says, absolutely nothing. Yeah. So they're not. It's like scatting. You follow me? Okay, so what boy ye ye, what ye, what what? Okay, nobody knows what the hell that is. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Hang up the phone. Tambolite says, yeah. You have license. Yeah. That's amazing. That is so awesome. So people stopped me. I couldn't tell you for the first year, people were saying to me, man, this is so great, man. You tie in the mumbo with mumbo jambo jambo. And they're trying to tell me what it means. I don't want to tell them. It means nothing. But I would have logged with it. And then finally I just had to let the cat out of the bag. That's great. I love that. How often are you getting out there enjoying all the love that you deserve from the crowds? Are you still enjoying getting out there and performing live? You do a bunch of dates still? People ask me, you know, how long does your tour last? I said, it's been going on since 71. Yeah. So how it works is very, so we just came off of a European tour, 36, 34 dates from London to Germany, to you name it, U02, O2, the big arenas and a couple of stadiums. And the fact is it's still happening. I mean, the point is it's still happening. So when you walk out on stage as 100,000 people, you walk out on stage as 40,000 people. And the beautiful part about where it is now is that when I forget the lyrics, I just go, come on. And here we go. Yeah. And it gets to the point now where it's even getting to the point of the Rocky Horror Show. They know all the parts. The next thing they do, they walk out with the mustache, the hair, the afro, the whole thing. And those are the girls. Those are the ladies. So it's really like coming to, I did Glastonbury, which is the whole center of the book. The book starts at Glastonbury and works back. And there's 200, let me give you that name, 200,000 people dressed up like Lionel Richie. Wow. And it starts there and goes back to the beginning of, that's where the book is, what it's all about. And so how did I get there? And when you see the security guards break out dancing, that becomes, okay, this is happening. And so, it's really the journey. The book is all about the journey. Yeah. The longevity and the level of quality that you've maintained for so long is just so astonishing. It's really admirable. Yeah, it is. You're just a, like I said, you're such a heavyweight. You're just an incredible talent. And we just admire the heck out of you. And your book truly is on sale September 30th and I urge everybody to go and read it. And I read a bunch of parts of it. I can't wait to read it. It's so interesting. And your story is so fantastic, man. And you bring such a positivity. You got such a positive vibe. It's infectious. I love it. Yeah. And I'm an MTV baby, so I grew up on you. This is a little surreal to me. It's really, really cool. Well, first of all, I want to thank Will for inviting me. This has been more fun and aha discovery yet again. But it's wonderful to be able to kind of stay here at the other end, first of all, to be alive clothing in my right mind is probably a phenomenon. Hello. In our business, normally what you have at the end of this as well, when I came out of this clinic or when I came out of this rehab or when I, the trick is just kind of surviving this business because it's treacherous as you well know. And so being a positive light, I've found that there's probably one, well, three simple words. I love you is what the whole world wants to hear. That's right. So I didn't plan it. That's not me planning. It's just, I happen to get that mission to use those words and it's serving me and the world well. Well, congratulations on keeping your light bright all of these years and untarnished and shining it on all of us. We really appreciate it. Thank you for the hour you hit us. Thanks for being here. The great Lionel Richie. Thank you very much guys. Thank you sir. I want a pleasure, pleasure, pleasure. And I hope our paths cross. I promise it's somewhere if you see me out, just come over and tap me on the shoulder and say, hey, it's me, Will, John. Come on, hey Rich, you know. I would love it. We're gonna take you up on that. Thank you Lionel Richie. Thank you so much. Continue success. Great fun. This book truly comes out September 30th. Lionel Richie, thanks for joining us, man. Love you guys. Love you too. Thanks so much. Bye, Paul. Love you. Bye. I feel bathed. Me too. Me too. Is that awesome when you meet somebody like that who just brings like positivity and you get like contrast? Like just, I don't know. You know, a lot of musicians that we've had on the show, I don't know what it is. If they've found the thing at such a young age that they love to do that it fills, it might sound really cheesy, but it seems like they're so connected to their spirit and they're so joyful. Like remember when Alicia Keys was on? I was just gonna say, she has been my favorite guest because of her light and her energy. And he is a co-ed, those are my two favorite interviews. Lionel Richie and Alicia Keys. Yeah, those are very good. I think that you're right, Sean. I don't think it's cheesy at all. I think there is something about musicians that makes it special. Like you're connected to something, I don't know. And then they emit that light. By the way, you know, I ran into out here, you're gonna love this shot, I forgot to tell you. I ran into, I was at this thing and all of a sudden I fell at the top of their shoulder and he goes, hey, Will, it's Dave from Depeche Mode. And it was so funny. The way he said Dave from Depeche Mode. Wait, he was there? He was a sweet guy. Yeah, yeah, he was, there's like a couple of weeks ago, and I go, hey man, we just, we just, yeah, yeah. No way I've died. By the way, you know, he was coming to the show on Wednesday. Who? Good night, Oscar. Mark Hamill. No way. Wow. Oh God, I just got to work on his outfit right now. Are you gonna wear a depends? Yeah. Or two. Or two. Yeah. Oh, shy. Oh man, I can't get over that Latin Richie though. I just wanna say that. Yeah, amazing. And that we know, I know, like I said, I was just an MTV guy, like I would see him in all the music videos and the hello video I was gonna say and it became more beautiful because the video with the blind girl, I don't know if you guys remember that, but it was about this blind woman and it was beautiful. Anyway, I loved that. The number of hits that guy has, he's just kept really, he's gotta be up there near the top as far as like, it's like a 150 million records sold worldwide. And he's that guy and he's like, hey, what's going on? Yeah. Yeah, he was going on. He's had like 10 or 12 number one hits. Like it's just, it's insane. Yeah, he's still touring and it seems like he's 35 years old. No kidding, it looks amazing. I know, I know. I mean, it's just, I know. What an inspiration, man. I wanna come back as Lionel Richie. I know. Do you think he'll write a sequel to the song, Hello? Oh, what would you think it'd be? What kind of a name do you think he could give to it? I mean, if you were gonna do a second part. Well, that's weird. How would you, where would you even start? I would probably start at first I would say, goodbye. Is it me or not looking for? We would get your nuts out of the vice first. Goodbye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Smart. Nice. Smart. Nice. SmartLess is 100% organic and artisanly handcrafted by Rob Armjurf, Bennett Barbico and Michael Granteri. SmartLess.