If anyone knows how to write a love song, it’s songwriter and record producer Lionel Richie. Here are a few love songs from his catalog that are guaranteed to make you swoon.
“Hello”
Love songs often toe the line between corny and sweet. For Richie, “Hello” was definitely one of those songs. Even though “Hello” is now one of Richie’s most memorable hits, it took some convincing from a producer for him to actually finish it.
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“I kept saying to [his producer], ‘You gotta be kidding me, right? I was just joking,’” he told CVT News. “He said, ‘No no, that’s incredible. Give me a verse to that.’ So I actually went in writing this song not liking the song, thinking that it was corny. ‘I mean, this is REALLY corny. This is not going to do well…’”
“Truly”
In “Truly”, Richie takes sincerity to a whole new level. This was his debut single as a solo artist after leaving The Commodores. Apparently, his desire to go solo resonated with people. It didn’t take long for “Truly” to go No. 1 on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts.
Even though he’s had much solo success since leaving the group, Richie credits The Commodores for helping him become who he is today.
“I was the shyest person ever, and The Commodores became this wonderful vehicle of guys,” he explained to Kelly and Mark. “Forget the band, brothers, and they forced me to do things that I would never have done…”
“Endless Love” (with Diana Ross)
Originally, this song wasn’t supposed to be a duet. Then, film director Franco Zeffirelli, who originally recruited Richie to write an “instrumental track” for his movie of the same name, changed his mind.
As Richie told The Sun, the recording of this song could have gone better.
“I’d not written a duet before but the record company suddenly changed the song to a duet and got Diana Ross in,” he shared, per Songfacts. “She arrived at the studio and told me she wants my part. I have to kind of make her part up because I can’t sing in that key. What you hear on the record is what happened on the day as it had to go out the next day for the movie.”
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