Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality.

He has joined the singing competition American Idol to serve as a judge, starting from its sixteenth season (2018 to present).

[3] During his solo career, Richie became one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s, and has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the world's best-selling artists of all time.

[6] In 2016, Richie received the Songwriters Hall of Fame's highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award.

In 1974, Richie achieved his first commercial success as a songwriter with "Happy People", which he co-wrote with Jeffrey Bowen and Donald Baldwin.

Also in 1981, Richie sang the title theme song for the film Endless Love, a duet with Diana Ross.

Issued as a single, the song topped the Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and US pop music charts, and became one of Motown's biggest hits.

The album contained the number-one hit "All Night Long", a Caribbean-flavored dance number that was promoted by a colorful music video produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith.

In 1984, he performed "All Night Long" at the ending ceremony of the XXIII Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Several more Top 10 hits followed, the most successful of which was the ballad "Hello" (1984), a sentimental love song that showed how far he had moved from his R&B roots.

He also collaborated with Michael Jackson on the charity single "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, another number-one hit.

In 1986, Richie released Dancing on the Ceiling, his last widely popular album, which produced a run of five US and UK hits, "Say You, Say Me" (U.S. No.

Richie's albums in the late 1990s such as Louder Than Words and Time failed to match the commercial success of his earlier work.

Some of his recent albums, such as Renaissance and Just for You, have returned to his older style and achieved success in Europe but only modest notice in the United States.

Richie was the headliner at a 2006 Fourth of July tribute concert with Fantasia Barrino at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The first single of the album was "I Call It Love" and was premiered in July 2006, becoming his biggest hit in the U.S. in ten years.

[citation needed] On May 2, 2008, Richie was the 21st recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's annual Spring Sing.

[27] Richie returned to Australia in 2011 where he and guest artist Guy Sebastian toured the country and New Zealand with concert dates throughout March and April.

[29][better source needed] On March 26, 2012, Richie released his tenth studio album, Tuskegee, which featured 13 of his hit songs performed as duets with country stars.

[citation needed] On June 28, 2015, Richie played to an audience of between 100,000 and 120,000 people at the Glastonbury Festival, England.

[34][needs update] In May 2017, Richie was honored at Berklee College of Music during its 2017 commencement concert when graduating students performed a medley of his discography.

[43] John Berman for ABC News reported in 2006 that "Grown Iraqi men get misty-eyed by the mere mention of his name.

[47] Richie suffered prolonged throat problems and had surgery four times in four years before being told by conventional doctors that he could lose his singing career.

He then turned to a holistic doctor who said the problem was simply acid reflux caused by foods Richie was eating before going to bed.

[51] Richie told the crowd that his grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 80s, but that she survived and lived until she was 103 years old.