Lionel Richie: A Legend Looks Back

HIGHS AND LOWS AND ICONIC LOVE SONGS: INSIDE THE LIFE OF A CREATOR OF TIMELESS POP CLASSICS

- JANINE RUBENSTEIN

At a certain point while writing his new memoir, Lionel Richie began to feel overwhelmed. “To be honest, I don’t know how I remembered a lot of stuff,” says Richie. “And then there were moments when I wanted to forget things—and that’s the painful part.” In Truly, the Grammy winner and American Idol judge, 76, excavates his journey as a painfully shy kid in Tuskegee, Ala., who stumbled his way into stardom in the ’70s with the Commodores and became one of the most successful solo artists of the ’80s, with hits like “All Night Long (All Night)” and “Hello.”

After navigating racism, the loss of loved ones and close friends like Michael Jackson, and the pain of two divorces, the father of three says, “I feel a sense of accomplishment. I finally met Lionel Richie.” With Truly, excerpted here, he hopes others will do the same.

Richie recalls growing up happy and shielded.