Country flavour for Lionel Richie album

It should not come as a great surprise that one of the most influential R&B singers of all time has decided to rework some of his classic songs, but with a country flavour.

Lionel Richie, who grew up in the Southern US State Alabama, goes back to his country roots with 13 of his biggest hits recorded as duets with country music stars.

“There is no difference between Country and R & B; It is real people, real stories,” says Lionel.

He cites the example of some of his biggest hits like “Sail On” and “Stuck on you” as being essentially Country in nature.

The album “Tuskegee”, released at the end of March, is named after the singer’s hometown and all the songs on the album were written in that little town.

“This is where it all began – the place where I felt that everything was available and possible,” says Lionel in a press release from the Mercury Nashville record company.

“It is where I learned about life and love and the power of music, and I built a musical foundation that knows no genres or boundaries.”

On the album, Kenny Rogers, who Lionel calls his mentor, rolls back the years on “Lady” a song originally written by the latter in 1980.

“Lionel Richie’s gift is that he makes music out of conversation,” says Rogers.

After more than six years away from music, Shania Twain makes a comeback on “Endless Love” a song, which was a challenge to record, even the first time around.

It was 1980 and Diana Ross was on the opposite end of the U.S every time the record company tried to track her down to record the duet with Lionel.

They eventually did, and the song went on to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and was named the greatest duet of all time by US music magazine, Billboard.

The new version of the song also proved to be a difficult process, because even after agreeing to Shania Twain’s wishes and flying to the Bahamas to get the song recorded, she was still nervous.

“She said she was scared of what she would sound like after a long lay off from doing any music and I had to calm her down by saying I, too, was scared,” says Lionel.

The first notes you hear Shania sing on the CD were left unedited from the first take of the recording to serve as a reminder of her vocal strength.

Lionel Richie, who is now 62, chose a career in music during his first year in college when his band, The Mystics merged with another group of students called The Jays, to form the Commodores in 1968.

He announced that he would quit school by telling his parents: “We are the black Beatles and we are going to take over the world.”

The band, was signed by the famous Motown Record Company, and they became the support act for their label mates, The Jackson 5, on tour.

Lionel was the lead singer on virtually all the classics recorded by the Commodores in the 1970s, especially ballads like “Easy” “Three times a Lady” and “Just to be Close to you”.

Many fans of the Commodores were heartbroken when Lionel Richie left the band in 1982 to pursue a solo career.

“I was ready to retire as a Commodore, then Kenny Rogers asked me if I would write him a song and that was “Lady” and then came “Endless Love” and “All Night Long.”

Suddenly, the momentum was such that I was wondering how to slow down this animal,” he says, referring to the phenomenal success he has enjoyed in the 1980s.

Five Grammy Awards later, an Oscar and with sales of 100 million albums, Lionel Richie’s career is at a point where he can take the gamble of a novelty album of the kind that “Tuskegee” is.

Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, Jennifer Nettles, are some of the biggest stars among the current generation of Country musicians and their appearance on the album should interest younger music fans in these timeless songs.

Each one of the 14 songs is a certified anthem and for Lionel Richie, it was important to maintain the integrity of the original songs:

“These new versions must retain that identity that enables the crowds at my concerts to pick their cue and sing along.”