Lionel Richie ‘Coming Home’ in September

By Patrick Luce Jun 14, 2006, 17:51 GMT

Legendary singer, songwriter, producer and five-time Grammy award-winning Island recording artist Lionel Richie has completed his new album ‘Coming Home’ and fans can look for it on store shelves by Sept. 12th. The album’s release will be preceded by the release of the first single “I Call It Love” which should start hitting radio by July 17th.

‘Coming Home’ will feature nine songs written/co-written by Richie plus an all-star collaboration between the artist and some of today’s most prolific contemporary hitmakers - including Jermaine Dupri, Raphael Saadiq, Dallas Austin, Sean Garrett, Chuckii Booker, and others. The lead single “I Call It Love” was written and produced by Stargate (recently on the charts with Ne-Yo, Rihanna, and many others) and Taj. 
 
‘Coming Home’ is described as the definitive album that Richie fans have been patiently awaiting.  Ritchie has personally written three new songs for the album, “I’m Coming Home,” “Outta My Head,” and “I Love You,” – which were also co-produced by Richie with his musical director Chuckii Booker (an accomplished songwriter and producer in his own right).  Booker collaborated with Richie as co-writer/co-producer on three other tunes, “I’m Missing Her,” “Keep Me Up All Night,” and “Why.”
 
Working with such pop crossover masters as Raphael Saadiq (who wrote and produced “Sweet Vacation” for the album) and Jermaine Dupri (who wrote and produced “You Are”) is a natural progression for Richie - who already has one of history’s most extraordinary track records at radio.  Richie also co-wrote “Reason to Believe” with the track’s famed producer Dallas Austin of Atlanta (known for his work with TLC, Pink, and Gwen Stefani). “All Around the World” was co-written and co-produced by Richie with Montreal-based Quicksound (who does the music for Cirque de Soleil). 

Richie has sold more than 100 million records worldwide in his career, and has the honor of owning an Oscar and Golden Globe Award (both for “Say You, Say Me,” from White Knights) and a total of five Grammys (collectively for “Truly,” Can’t Slow Down, and “We Are The World”).  The singer has the distinction of being the only songwriter in the modern pop era to have written #1 song hits over nine consecutive years: 1978 (“Three Times a Lady” with the Commo¬dores), 1979 (“Still” with the Commo¬dores), 1980 (“Lady” for Kenny Rogers), 1981 (“Endless Love” duet with Diana Ross), 1982 (“Truly”), 1983 (“All Night Long”), 1984 (“Hello”), 1985 (“We Are the World” with Michael Jackson for USA For Africa), and 1986 (“Say You, Say Me”).

The singer/songwriter’s string of 15 consecutive top 10 R&B hits between 1981 and 1992 (five of which hit #1) – 13 of which were consecutive top 10 pop hits (also including five #1’s) – stands as one of the most enviable achievements in chart history.  His countless awards include multiple American Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, People’s Choice Awards, ASCAP Awards, the World Music Lifetime Achievement Award,and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2003.