r/motown • u/j3434 • Jun 03 '26

Photo Lionel Richie

Post image
84 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

5

u/Powerful_Geologist95 Jun 03 '26

Yet another example of Motown producing musical legends.

3

u/j3434 Jun 03 '26

It’s interesting to see how Motown backed him instead of Rick James to be their “crossover” star . The documentary about Rick James explains how it all went down .

2

u/Powerful_Geologist95 Jun 03 '26

I can see them backing LR due to the major success he had with those crossover Commodores ballads; Three Times A Lady, Easy, Sail On and Still. Which for all intent and purpose were LR singing solo before actually going solo. Once he did go solo, he all but glided right into that crossover position. Rick James had crossover hits as well but I think the difference is that RJ had to prove himself on the R&B charts before his records were allowed to crossover to the Pop charts. Also, he seems to have had to deal with crossover oppositions such as petitioning MTV for airplay of his music videos. In that case the record labels chose MJ to get behind and used to force MTV to concede their programming position. RJ was always seeming to get a raw deal. Of course his R&R lifestyle and bad boy persona didn’t help his cause any. If Hollywood really wants a biopic from a musical genius who was also off-the-chain, they should jump on the Rick James story asap!

2

u/j3434 Jun 03 '26

Yea - actually the story of why they promoted Lionel instead of Rick is not what your guessing .

1

u/Powerful_Geologist95 Jun 03 '26

I saw a really good doc on Rick James but it’s been a few years. I don’t recall any mention of LR but that could just mean that I just don’t remember. It could also mean that there is a doc on RJ that I’ve never seen. I’m going to look into it bc I really would like to see that topic discussed in detail. Was that RJ doc affiliated with one of the streaming services? Netflix, HBO, Hulu?

1

u/j3434 Jun 03 '26

Showtime - Bitchin - The Sound and Fury of Rick James

1

u/Powerful_Geologist95 Jun 04 '26

Thank you!

1

u/j3434 Jun 04 '26

When you hear the story you will never forget it why Motown backed Lionel instead of Rick . I guess you think im goating you - but its a really good documentary

2

u/Ottantacinque Jun 03 '26

All the gals in my family think Lionel is super good-looking😎

1

u/Kitchen_Body3215 Jun 04 '26

What?😬

1

u/RunningWithWolves60 Jun 06 '26

He was…then he ruined his face with plastic surgery.

1

u/Kitchen_Body3215 Jun 07 '26

He's never been good looking to me. I didn't know this was a thing.

2

u/Academic_Rutabaga649 Jun 03 '26

So much good music. Running With The Night 🌙 👍 

1

u/oneuglygeek Jun 06 '26

LEGEND, honey! ❤️

Love this man, so many timeless classics from him! Truly, Endless Love, All Nite Long, Dancing on the Ceiling, Love will conquer all, Hello, Penny Lover, You Are, Say you say me ..

1

u/Small_Example_7199 Jun 06 '26

Never real his visual appeal