PRS for Music Special International Award - Lionel Richie

There are stars. There are superstars. But – hello! – if it’s an all-time great you’re looking for, then Lionel Richie certainly fits the bill.

Richie has been at the top pretty much since he joined The Commodores in 1968, but took things to a whole new level when he launched his solo career in 1982. He’s won five Grammys, an Oscar and received the Songwriters Hall Of Fame’s highest honour, the Johnny Mercer Award. And he’s sold over 90 million records around the world.

Richie is incredibly popular pretty much everywhere (he’s a genuine phenomenon across the Arab world, for example) but a significant chunk of those 90 million sales have been in the UK (he’s had no fewer than six Top 10 studio albums here), a country that has always held him in great affection. And the feeling seems to be mutual; when he relaunched his solo career in 2015, he chose to do it at Glastonbury Festival. The resulting gig has entered the annals of Worthy Farm history, with even Richie himself – a man who, let’s face it, has probably seen most things during his stellar career – moved to remark, “There’s people here that know these songs better than I do”.

Then again, the Lionel Richie song collection is pretty memorable. This is a man who has mastered everything from lovelorn ballad (Endless Love, Truly) to tasteful soul (All Night Long (All Night)) to full-on party tunes (Dancing On The Ceiling). His UK chart record is particularly remarkable: that Glastonbury performance sent his Lionel Richie & The Commodores: The Definitive Collection soaring to the top of the album charts, while Hello spent six weeks at No.1 here back in 1984.

And, 50 years after we first said hello to Lionel Richie, no one’s ready to say goodbye just yet.