#544 - Lionel Richie on Writing “Hello” and “All Night Long” + What Michael Jackson Was Like + Meeting the Commodores and Not Wanting to Go Solo + What “We Are the World” Still Means to Him

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Bobby Bones Show – Episode #544

Guest: Lionel Richie
Host: Bobby Bones
Date: October 7, 2025
Episode Theme:
A deep-dive interview with Lionel Richie exploring his journey from the Commodores to solo superstardom, the stories behind iconic songs like “Hello,” “All Night Long,” and “We Are the World,” reflections on fame, family, loss, and what success really means.

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Main Themes

• Lionel Richie’s origins: overcoming shyness, his family legacy, and finding creativity amid adversity
• Joining and growing with the Commodores, then navigating the challenging transition to solo artist
• The creative process and unlikely stories behind his biggest hits (“Lady,” “Hello,” “All Night Long,” “Stuck On You”)
• Personal sacrifice, self-doubt, and the true cost of fame
• The making and lasting impact of “We Are the World”
• Reflections on loss, legacy, and advice for creatives

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Early Life & Family Influence

[04:12]

• Lionel reflects on writing his memoir “Truly,” expecting fun memories, but discovering deeper lessons:

  “The person I discovered after writing this book was me. I had no idea I could do something like this in my life. I was the shyest guy in school, painfully shy.”
  — Lionel Richie, [05:56]

• He details the strength and humor of his family in the segregated South, especially Grandma Foster (a Black classical pianist in 1930s Nashville) and his parents’ partnership:

  “There was nothing good about being black in the South Jim Crow, with all the degrees you could possibly ever get...But I heard laughter every day on that campus in my house.”
  — Lionel Richie, [10:05]

2. Overcoming Differences and Finding Creativity

[11:58]

• Discusses being labeled “strange” due to what’s now called ADHD—seen as a superpower for creativity:

  “I was not present. I was on the other side, somewhere in my imaginary place, creating something.”
  — Lionel Richie, [14:12]

• Music and creativity as a sanctuary and gift: joining the Commodores at Tuskegee, despite not being able to read music fluently or even wanting to be a singer at first.

3. Early Commodores & Touring with the Jackson 5

[15:08]

• Describes the rush and challenge of suddenly opening for the Jackson 5 at Madison Square Garden, bypassing the club circuit:

  “We missed the chitlin circuit and went straight to Madison Square Gardens.”
  — Lionel Richie, [19:40]

On Michael Jackson’s precociousness:

“This was a full grown man and he was doing stuff that… it was just stupid.”
— Lionel Richie, [20:40]

• Observes the music business machinery behind major acts and learns lessons on ambition and art.

4. The Commodores’ Rise and Transition to Solo Artist

[26:29]

• The band’s evolution and showmanship (“Lionel, bend over on stage and kiss that girl on the front row”), managing internal dynamics and fame:

  “There was such a scream in this huge arena that the problem the Commodores had from that point on was Lionel quit kissing the girls and sing the damn song. I had discovered sexy, you understand?”
  — Lionel Richie, [29:16]

• The difficulties and unfairness as Richie became more prominent, ultimately leading to his solo career—reluctantly at first:

  “I did not want to go solo. I had the band...All I needed to do was just stay in the band.”
  — Lionel Richie, [29:24]

5. Songwriting Stories: “Lady,” “Hello,” and “All Night Long”

“Lady” (Kenny Rogers)
[34:21]

• Originated as “Baby” for the Commodores, reworked after the band vetoed more love songs. Kenny Rogers requested a ballad—Richie tailored “Lady” for him on the spot:

  “He said, by the way, what’s the name of the song you wrote for me? I said, Lady. Baby, Lady, same damn thing, right?”
  — Lionel Richie, [36:20]

“Hello”
[39:51]

• Started as a joke greeting to producer James Carmichael, who pressed Richie to finish it:

  “He said, that’s the corniest line I’ve ever heard...I’ll be laughed out of the business with ‘Hello, is it me you’re looking for?’”
  — Lionel Richie, [40:10]

• Almost didn’t make the album—was viewed as “too heavy.” Only after late deliberation did it become a single, alongside “All Night Long.”

“All Night Long”

• Nearly left off for being too long and layered; later became a defining anthem for Richie.

6. The Cost of Fame and Personal Sacrifices

[44:15]

• Richie reveals the loneliness, family loss, and personal turmoil behind his apparent invincibility:

  “Things were growing and things were falling apart...The answer is, money, power and fame does not change you. It only magnifies you.”
  — Lionel Richie, [45:03]

• Divorce, moving away from Tuskegee, and losing his support system.

7. “We Are the World” — Untold Stories

[56:46]

• Tells a behind-the-scenes story about Al Jarreau celebrating prematurely, making his solo take nearly unusable:

  “Al started drinking about 9 o’clock. By the time we got to 1 o’clock, Al was ready to celebrate… We took every take we could find to get his part right. It was in early bottle one.”
  — Lionel Richie, [58:00]

8. Reflection on Career, Legacy, and Regrets

[60:06]

• Richie openly shares about impostor syndrome and continual fear, even after achievements:

  “Did I enjoy the ride? You better believe I enjoyed the ride. But what was my companion? Fear... Not realizing it's been 40 years since the light turned green.”
  — Lionel Richie, [60:18]

• Highlights the sacrifices—missing time with loved ones, losing friends (“I lost Luther Vandross. I lost Whitney. I lost Michael, Rick James. I lost Sammy. I lost my mentors...”), and what he’d do differently.

• His father’s advice about courage:

  “‘Are you scared to death? Yes. Step forward. Are you scared to death? Yes. Step forward... In all of my fear, I just kept hearing my father.’”
  — Lionel Richie, [66:30]

9. Audience Q&A

Stuck on You
[71:11]

• Written for Kenny Rogers; many of Richie’s hits were originally written for others (“Truly” for Barbra Streisand, “Three Times a Lady” for Frank Sinatra).
• Learns that “Easy,” “Hello,” and similar hits are used to teach English in China.

If He Could Only Sing One Song Forever
[74:16]

• Chooses “Easy”:

  “It would be ‘Easy Like Sunday Morning’ for me. It said everything.”
  — Lionel Richie, [74:26]

• Explains the work and perseverance behind what are sometimes called “genius” moments, and the deeper meaning of songs like “Zoom.”

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Notable Quotes

• On discovering himself through writing:

  “The person I discovered after writing this book was me. I had no idea that I could do something like this in my life.”
  — Lionel Richie, [05:56]

• On family and humor as survival:

  “If you don’t have a sense of humor, they got you.”
  — Lionel Richie’s father’s advice, [10:58]

• On fame vs. happiness:

  “Money, power and fame does not change you. It only magnifies you.”
  — Lionel Richie, [45:47]

• On being scared:

  “We’re all scared to death… What is the similarity between a hero and a coward? They were both scared to death. It’s just one step forward and one step back.”
  — Lionel Richie, [66:30]

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Memorable Moments

• Lionel describing his accidental turn toward the stage, and discovering “sexy” by kissing girls in the crowd—pushed by his bandmates ([29:16])
• Comic retelling of being pressed to finish “Hello” from a silly phrase, dismissing it as “corny,” only for it to become a classic ([40:10])
• Raw honesty about the pain and personal cost of his rise, from losing old ties to struggling with divorce ([44:27])

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Tips, Advice & Takeaways

• Embrace differences: what seems like a “problem” can be a creative gift.
• Recognize the cost beneath the surface of “success.”
• Courage is about moving forward even when you’re scared.
• Cherish relationships and health—they are difficult to reclaim.

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Timestamps for Reference

• 04:12 – Reflections on family, upbringing, and the book’s revelations
• 20:30 – Performing with the Jackson 5 and lessons backstage
• 26:29 – The Commodores’ ascent, band dynamics, and Richie as front man
• 34:21 – “Lady” and writing for Kenny Rogers
• 39:51 – The casual birth of “Hello”
• 44:15 – Coping with fame, divorce, and personal loss
• 56:46 – Secrets from recording “We Are the World”
• 60:06 – Fear, imposter syndrome, and lasting impact
• 71:11 – “Stuck on You” and global resonance
• 74:16 – Richie’s favorite song to perform: “Easy”

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This episode is a lively, heartfelt, and deeply honest look at a musical legend—full of wisdom, humor, and hard-won perspective. Lionel Richie’s story will resonate with anyone who’s ever chased a big dream or doubted their own talent.

Transcript

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Maggie Freeling]

The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns.

[Maggie Freeling]

Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. And to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

It's Ana Ortiz and I'm Markin Delicato. You might know us as Hilda and Justin from Ugly Betty. Welcome to our new podcast, Viva Betty. We're re watching from start to finish and getting into all the fashions, the drama and the behind the scenes moments that you've never heard before. But you were still bartending. I didn't know that. The bar back is like, is that you and I turn around and it's a commercial for Betty.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

And I was like, I gotta go.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I quit. Listen to Viva Betty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

I'm Bridget Armstrong, host of the new podcast the Curse of America's Next Top Model. I've been investigating the real story behind that icon show.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I ended up having anorexia issues, bulimia.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

Issues, by talking to the models, the producers and the people who profited from it all. We basically sold our souls and they got rich.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

If you were so rooting for her.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

And saw her drowning, why don't you help her? Listen to the Curse of America's Next Top model on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I enough guts in my heart to bend over and kiss that girl on the front row. There was such a scream in this huge arena that the problem the Commodores had from that point on was Lionel, quit kissing the girls and sing the damn song.

[Bobby Bones]

Welcome to episode 544 with Lionel Richie. We did this in a theater in Austin, Texas. Lionel started in the band the Commodores. He was a saxophone player originally. Didn't really want to sing or especially be the lead singer, so. And then he ended up kind of becoming that, but still not fully. But that's where he started. He graduated from Tuskegee University. That's where he met the original Commodores. And we talk about in this, you know, how he ended up going solo a little different than, you know, other stories of lead singers going solo. And this was all because he's doing a book. He's got a book out called Truly that it's really great. I hope you check it out. You can go to lionelricci.com book he@1 point headline the super bowl Halftime Show 1989. I did not know that. He also performed at the 1984 Olympics closing ceremony, singing all night long to a crowd of 2.6 billion TV viewers worldwide. That's when everybody watched the same channel. Michael Jackson and Lionel co wrote We Are the World. They did the whole documentary on it. He sold over 125 million records worldwide. He's won multiple Grammys, Golden Globe, an Oscar. This was a fun one. And I encourage, if you know, you like this, go watch the video because we shot the whole thing multi camera. It's over on the Bobbycast YouTube page, which is obbybones channel. We can see that over there. He's still a judge on American Idol. He's got a residency in Vegas. And let's go now. Here he is, the great Lionel Richie. I'm very fortunate that we've known each other for a long time. And you wrote all this about your life. What did you remember? Because you're having to dig deep. What did you remember? And go, oh, my goodness, like. And it moved you emotionally.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

That's very nice, Mr. Bones. You started right with the straight to the gut. I thought the book was going to be all the fun things that happened to me along the way. We are going to talk about the Commodores. We're talking about Tuskegee, we're going to talk about the peak. We won this, we won that. And then they said, well, what was the most exciting thing that ever happened to you? I said, well, I was. I was in the Commodores, but before that I was a Cub Scout and I was a Boy Scout. Got all my merit badges. And then I. And the guy said, this is a pitiful book. And then I met the Commodores in school and I knew I was on the right road because my grandmother and my mother and my father came to me and said, who the hell are these guys? I said, you mean you don't like them? They said, well, they, you know, are they going to be doctors and lawyers? And I said, I don't think so. And that's when I realized I was on the right road. Because no one at Tuskegee could understand creative people. You understand, that seemed to be a.

[Bobby Bones]

Theme with your life, though, because Tuskegee, the album, when it came out, they also told you that was not going to work. And you talk about in the book how you would know when things were going to be successful by the pushback at times that it would get.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

When I knew I was on the right road, it was when I realized that no one could ever imagine me doing it, including me. And I'm going to give you a hint of what this story that you're reading or about to read really happened. How it happened. And that was the person I discovered after writing this book was me. I had no idea that I could do something like this in my life. I was the shyest guy in school, painfully shy. If you ask me to do a Easter speech, I had five people on the front row going, you can do it. You can do it. Come on. It was painful. And so it's a reluctant story about a kid who had absolutely no idea that this evening was going to happen. Full of stories and ups and downs and the craziness. And if you said to me, how did you do it? The answer is, I don't know.

[Bobby Bones]

Tell me about your mom and dad.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

My mom. Well, let's start with mom and dad were the co parents. The real power in the house was Grandma Foster. Now, if you know anything about your grandparents, they rule whatever your parents were thinking, and they can overrule whatever your parents are thinking. So Grandma Foster, a.m. foster, who was a. Now get this. Now, she was a classical pianist. She taught classical piano. And in 1930 something, she decided she was going to make a career in 1930 something, she was going to be a classical pianist when she grew up. Now, you think being a commodore and being famous around the world was ridiculous. Being a concert pianist, black, in Nashville, Tennessee, was almost virtually impossible. So that's my grandmother. My father was a systems analyst, was in the military when he first did the army, and he was a part of that wonderful squadron of army and Air Force black guys called the Tuskegee Airmen. My mom. I don't know how my dad talked my mom into marrying him. Why? Because he was the funniest guy I'd ever met in my life. He was the only guy in the world that would take my mother's refined, aka Ms. Tuskegee. My mother was Ms. Tuskegee. Can you imagine? All right, so she would take all of that and say yes to my father. And for the life of me, I kept thinking, what did he say to get my mother? And finally one day I asked her, mom, what did he say? And her answer was, he made me laugh. We are now into that point where my dad taught me something and my mom was the verifier of that, mom was by the book. Here are the rules, here's the etiquette, here's the proper way to say things, the proper way to do things. My dad taught me. He says, your mother's going to teach you how to speak. Well, your mother's going to teach you how to walk into a room and act like you got some sense. I'm going to teach you how to survive. And that's exactly what he did. Now, you would think that course would be a very long course. It was not a long course. My dad's line was very clear. If you don't have a sense of humor, they got you. And I realized at that point how he survived and my mother survived and my grandmother survived. There was nothing good about being black in the South Jim Crow, with all the degrees you could possibly ever get and feel good about yourself. But for some weird reason, the Tuskegee Airmen, my dad's squadron, not in the Air Force, but in the army division of that. My grandmother, who wanted to be the classical pianist, they didn't let us know that that was the pressure. I heard laughter every day on that campus in my house. And I never knew that there was that much pressure on them, but they were under a lot of pressure. But they raised us with the possibility. Just the possibility, Hope. The possibility.

[Bobby Bones]

You talk about how back then there wasn't a lot of diagnosis for ADD or adhd, and you were just different. Do you think that ended up being a superpower of yours? More so because it obviously, in ways, because it was. It was kind of unexplainable at the time, you were just a different kid. But do you think that allowed you to get to places creatively that maybe you wouldn't have been able to get to?

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

That was so nicely said. When I was growing up, I was labeled as strange. Why we didn't know what ADD was or adhd, or they just said, can you read? Can you write? And can you just sit still in your chair and not move? So they added one more to it. Hypersensitive. Now, if you know anything about being on a university campus, they have more doctors and more people to analyze your ass. And I was the one they were trying to analyze. And the most important part about this was I started believing that there was something wrong with me. And so I went through life thinking, well, maybe I'm having a situation here where maybe I can't track things properly. So then I tried to read music. And I know the notes. I'm looking right at the notes. But I'm going, that's not working. And then I tried to read a passage from the thing, and it goes. And the man walked into the room. He went to the park. Lionel and I froze. But then I took a speed reading course, passed with honors. But they didn't give me credit for getting the comprehension of the page. They gave me credit for not. They gave me the credit of not being able to say word for word. So I had a problem. The next thing was, Bobby, this is first grade, second grade, fifth grade, high school, college. To the point where they would say, Mr. Richie, would you like to join the rest of the class? And the answer was, I was not present. I was on the other side, somewhere in my imaginary place, creating something. I'm on an academic campus, get this. Trying to create something, when all I had to do was read the damn thing out the book and I can get an A. But I liked what I was doing on the other side.

[Bobby Bones]

And that allowed you to do things to such a bigger level on the other side.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I didn't know that at one point.

[Bobby Bones]

I think it got you there, right?

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

No, it got me there. But the story is so amazing. Because what I want people to read from this book is not that I made it, is how the hell did I make it? Because there were so many things stacked again against my conscious mind that I had to forget about what is the proper thing to do. And so everything was going well until I couldn't quite deal with it. I got to my. I got to my university. Now I'm going to Tuskegee University for college. But I met these guys. I met these wonderful guys. And you know what I liked about them? They didn't grow up with me. They knew who the hell I was. They only asked one question. Did you bring your horn to school? I said, I sure did. He said, would you like to join a band? I said, I sure would. I didn't tell them I could read or write music. And they didn't ask me. The second thing was, I can play the piano by ear, and I can play the saxophone by ear, but I've never been in a band before, and I've never been a lead singer. I didn't tell them any of that. But I wanted to be in this band. You got it. And I thought, as a backup, I might just be a priest. What? See, y' all didn't believe it either, and neither did I. But I thought most of the people that actually talked to me all day long were people of the clergy. I'm an Episcopalian. I would love to. God bless us. And by the way, we don't get that loud in church. So you understand church was basically standard operating procedure of worshiping while being silent. There was no emoting whatsoever. Is there a T and emoting anyways a strong one. So I am now faced with. My backup is priesthood. And then I decided, okay, I like these Commodores so much. We're going to go to the. We're going to do clubs, we're going to hang out. I've never been in a club before in my life. I don't know what a club is. Right. Don't have a clue as to what this is going to be, but, boy, is it exciting. The greatest thing that ever happened in my educational world was some lady on the front row said, sing it, baby, Sing it, baby. And I went back to Father Caution and Bishop Murray Vernon Jones looked across the desk and said, I don't think I'm going to be priest material. I have discovered something that I don't want to let go. I touched somebody. Now, wait a minute. Now, you have to understand, this is a guy that never. I was invisible. Invisible. Somebody screamed. And then from there we went on to stand in front of a stage and people were chasing me and talking to me. And I had one problem, though. We didn't have a record deal, and I'm in my junior year in college, and the Jackson 5, out of the clear blue sky, our manager at the time, we had a guy in New York City. Every year we go to New York, but every year we go to New York summer. And this time, not knowing that, Benny had a lady named a friend of his named Suzanne DePass who said, I've got a new job, Uncle Benny. I am going to take this new group called the Jackson 5 out on their first tour across America. I'm looking for a front act, an opening act. And Benny said they were upstairs under my table and on my sofa and in my refrigerator, in my apartment. And we walked out on stage and we were the opening act. And I don't know what happened at that point, but the opening act for our first show was Madison Square Gardens. Madison Square Gardens, which means we missed the chitlin circuit and went straight to Madison Square Gardens.

[Bobby Bones]

You talk about Michael Jackson and he was a bit younger than you, but being surprised that he. And he said, we have sold this out.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

You got that? Yeah. Okay. Michael was about that tall. But to this day, I would have loved to have done a DNA test to find out just how old this kid Was this was a full grown man and he was doing stuff that I. It was just stupid. And we were backstage and he peeks around the curtain, and I peek around the curtain. He says, lionel, Lionel, we sold out Madison Square Gardens. And I said, you sold out Madison Square Gardens? I'm hanging with you. But what did I learn backstage? What I learned was there was limos everywhere, but the Jacksons only had one. So I'm thinking to myself, okay, let me figure out who these other people are. First limo was the trucking company, the people who owned the trucking companies. Second one was the lighting company, sound company, the publishers, the writers, the record presidents. Mr. Gordy, I realized at that point there's a business here. So just in case, by the way, I'm still the horn holder at this time because I had no idea I could write a song. I had two songs to sing in the show and one of them was Little Green Apples. There is nothing. No, no, no. There is nothing sexy about Little Green Apples at Madison Square Gardens. So I went out on stage and we had to learn how to perform. And by midway of the tour, we killed it. From that point on, from that point on, it became now clear to me this is where I wanted to be. Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor. All I know is what I've been told and that to have truth is a whole lie.

[Maggie Freeling]

For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.

[Maggie Freeling]

We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.

[Maggie Freeling]

My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer. And I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I did not know her and I.

[Bobby Bones]

Did not kill her or rape or burn or any of that other stuff.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

That y' all said. They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her.

[Maggie Freeling]

From lava for good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.

[Maggie Freeling]

Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley. Feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good. Plus on Apple Podcast.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

People called them murderers. Ten years later, they were gods. Today, no one knows their names. A group of maverick surgeons who took on the medical establishment who risked everything to invent open heart surgery. Welcome to the wild west of American medicine. I'm Chris Pine and this is Cardiac Cowboys. If you like medical dramas, if you like heart pounding thrillers, you will love Cardiac Cowboys. Listen on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to podcasts sponsored by Jasper. AI AI.

[Maggie Freeling]

Built for marketers.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

It may look different, but Native culture is very alive. My name is Nicole Garcia, and on Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we aim to explore that culture.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

It was a huge honor to become a television writer because it does feel oddly like very traditional. It feels like Bob Dylan going electric. That this is something we've been doing.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

For hundreds of years.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

You carry with you a sense of purpose and confidence.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

That's Ciara Teller Ornelas, who with Rutherford Falls, became the first native showrunner in television history. On the podcast Burn Sage Burned Bridges, we explore her story along with other Native stories, such as the creation of the first Native Comic Con or the importance of reservation basketball. Every day, Native people are striving to keep traditions alive while navigating the modern world, influencing and bringing our culture into the mainstream. Listen to Burn Sage, Burn bridges on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

And we're back on the Bobby cast.

[Bobby Bones]

On this tour, you guys had gotten so dynamic. You guys had. Had gotten so good. The newspapers were also complimenting you guys and they'd be the Jack 5. They were good, but holy crap, the Commodores. So much so that I feel like there was maybe resentment from Michael's dad.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

You read the book, boy, you doing all right. I like that. All right. So what happens is that everything that went on at that time, you have to understand it was all about protecting the Jacksons. We were just trying to make sure we killed every night. And every time they schooled them on what you properly should do, we were listening. If you have a song that's going to be the highlight song of the night, play that first. Don't wait till the end because the crowd won't be there. Now we're playing top 40. We have no hit record, so we get to pick any record we want. Well, we hit them with Sly Stone, we hit them with Tim Tape, but we were killing it. And they were little boys, and we didn't have any respect for them. That should get TMZ going, right? Okay. Until they walked out on stage and those little boys turned into a machine that would scare you to death to this day. Don't let anybody fool you. They came out to slay everything. And at that point, I realized we are the luckiest guys in the world to be in front of this little school of preschoolers. And whatever I had to do to tolerate the Abus for a year, I will take it, because this is my ticket to somewhere. And finally, we ended up in the Hollywood bowl in Hollywood, California. And those little kids walked us right into Motown Records.

[Bobby Bones]

One of the interesting things about your story of going solo wasn't you going, I am going to go solo. It was the awkward predicament of them saying to you and your band, you guys are now just going to follow Lionel. And it put you in a very weird place.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Ladies and gentlemen, I was perfectly happy being a member of the Commodores and had no thought in my life to leave this band. In fact, I wrote, I think, somewhere in the book, thank God for the Commodores. Because without them, I would never have been Lionel Richie. That is a true story. These guys, this is not a band now. This is a group of brothers I never had before. A group of brothers that didn't grow up on a university campus. These brothers grew up in real life. Milan Williams, Mississippi. Clyde, the drummer. And Tommy. That's Florida. I'm not talking about the ritzy side of Florida. I'm talking about Florida, okay? And so when I tell you, William King, Birmingham, Alabama, they taught me more stuff that I had no idea what survival was until I heard their story. But more importantly, they taught me that I can be me. I heard terrifying words from these guys. Lionel, bend over on the stage and kiss that girl on the front row. And I said to them, in my grandmother, mother and father's training, I don't know the girl on the front row. And they said, fool, will you just bend over and kiss that damn girl on the front row? And so finally, I found enough guts in my heart to bend over and kiss that girl on the front row. There was such a scream in this huge arena that the problem the Commodores had from that point on was Lionel quit kissing the girls and sing the damn song I had discovered. Sexy, you understand? So everybody thinks for a moment that Lionel broke out being the lover he was when he was growing up and decided he's gonna go solo. I did not want to go Solo, I had the band. I had everything I needed. All I needed to do was just stay in the band. By this time, I discovered I could write. By this time, I didn't have to play the saxophone too long because I had to be able to sing more than I could play the sax. This is good news. Now came the problem reviews. Everything was fine until Lady. Now they know me as the writer, and they don't know the rest of the guys, but they know Lionel Richards and the Commodores, and he wrote Lady. So now you go back to the band to do interviews on behalf of the band. And here are the questions. So, Lionel, tell us when you started the Commodores. Tell us how you did it. Well, I didn't start. I mean, we. We. We start the Commodore. Lionel, how's it feel being the front man? This is not good. And then finally, the ultimate Madison Square Gardens. And then finally, Lionel Richie sat down to the piano and played his songs. Here's the line that stabbed everybody in the chest. What's a guy like Lionel Richie doing in a funk band like the Commodores? Now, try to go back to rehearsal after that, and that is not where you want to be. So from that point on, I felt this. Okay. And no matter what I tried to do, no matter how I tried to do it, no matter if I stay on the road longer, but also was coming at the same time was after three times a Lady, after Ceylon, after. Oh, got it. And then lady came out. The checks were coming in. You know what keeps a band together? The word equal. It was not equal. And so it became. And I believe me, I'm telling you, I. I knew what was happening. I just was in denial. But it was the hardest thing. And I knew eventually that something had to happen. And it did. I had to leave the Commodores.

[Bobby Bones]

I want to talk about song specifically. And let's bounce around through some songs. And lady is so interesting to me because I loved Kenny Rogers.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Yep.

[Bobby Bones]

That was like. I got to know him a little bit before he passed away a few years. Loved him. And, you know, he's known for that song that you wrote, but it really wasn't Lady. You had it as like baby and you. And he was just telling you a story, and you're like, yep, it's Lady.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

No, everybody, you have to understand something. You want to be embarrassed, and you want to get mad. Every guy in the Commodores would bring in 10 songs for the album, and each one of us thought that their 10 songs was the 10 that should be on the album. So you don't need to finish the song totally, because all you had to do is play. And here's the first song. Nope. All right, here's my second song. You know, so you don't write. You don't finish crap. You just hit the head of it. Go to the verse, go to the hook. They like it. Great. Kenny Rogers said, called me on the phone one day and said, I want one of those ballots. You got one? And I said, yeah, I got. I got one. And he said, I want you. How fast can you get me the song? I said, well, I got a problem. I'm on my way on tour. We are just finishing up the album. And now, of course, I had a song called Baby for the Commodore's album. And they said to me when I walked in, we don't want another love song. And I said, okay, that's pretty clear. So I decided to write a gospel song, and I wrote Jesus love Now. All right, I got Jesus love. I am not going to. To be able to do this with Kenny because we're going on tour. I said, when I get back off a tour, Kenny, I'll call you. And we got it. No problem. Two weeks later, we're about to go on tour. The drummer, Clyde, why he bought a motorcycle, I'll never notice. Hope drummers and motorcycles, I'll never forget. Fell off of his motorcycle and now has to be off the road for a month and a half, maybe two months. Tours canceled and pushed back. I called Kenny on the phone and said, you want that song? He says, I do. I said, I'm available because that's Kenny Rogers. You returned his phone call, you see, and so he said, meet me in Vegas. I get to Vegas, and there he is in the dressing room, bigger than life, and he starts telling me this story. He says, you know, I just got married. I said, congratulations. I heard that. He says, you know, I married a lady. I mean, I'm from Houston, Texas, and I. I don't know why on earth that. I mean, Marianne is so refined. I have no business being with a lady. This lady is so amazing, Lionel. She does things that I would have never. She has taste I've never seen. He went on, this lady, this lady. He said, by the way, what. What's the name of the song you wrote for me? I said, lady ain't Stupid, the Brother Ain't Stupid, Baby lady, same damn thing. Right now, we. He's excited because it's right on the story he wants to talk about. All right, now, let me hear it. Wow. Now this is Commodore pitching 101. Lady, I'm your knight in shining armor and I love you. You have made me what I am and I am your shoulda. Should have charged more money. It's all right, it's all. It was just that quiet. And Kenny said, what's next? And I said, you like it? He says, I think it's brilliant. What comes next? I said, well, if you like it, I'll finish it. And that's the beginning of lad.

[Bobby Bones]

The places that songs come from could be purposeful or could be random.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Can we take up a collection? Something that happened, yeah, it's all right.

[Bobby Bones]

The more you sing, the more they'll throw in.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Yeah, If I got it, yeah. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

[Bobby Bones]

Nothing felt as random to me as hello. How that song came to be.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

There are things what I love most about writing. It's got to be simple. If it ain't simple, you won't remember it, and neither will I. And when you have add, you need it simple. All right, now, I was playing around with my co producer, James Anthony Carmichael, and he was late. And when he walked in, I said, hello, is it me you're looking for? We need more money, man. We gotta get more money. Anyway, he said, the damnedest thing I'd ever heard in life. Finish that song. And I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I said, james, that's the corniest line I've ever heard in my life. Hello, is it me you're looking for? Can't be a song. He said, I'm telling you, finish the song, Brother Richie, you got something. And I went back and reluctantly, I put some chords to it. Wrote the damn song. He said, let's record it. I said, james, I'll be laughed out of the business with hello, Is it me you're looking for? He said, let's record it. All right, we record the song. Lush, lush, lush strings. It was just. Oh, it was just amazing. And then I loved it. And he hated it. Why? It's too heavy. It's too heavy. So I went off somewhere and wrote a song to kick ladies ass. Excuse me, hellos ass. And wrote Truly. Now, now, wait. Now it gets scary before it gets good. Now I'm sitting there and I have Truly. And we threw some more songs off the record. Do I throw off hello and replace it with Truly, or do I keep hello and put it out at the same time? We threw another song off because it was just too risque. Call all night long. I ain't gonna sing that that takes too long. But the point was to show you the insanity was I was trying. You know, my whole concept was, how do I get people's attention? You have to do something crazy. I ain't taking off my clothes, so I gotta shock you with something that you ain't ready for. And so I wrote this calypso song, and it's got the feeling and the thought of, okay, it was just too long and it was too much stuff, and it had too many layers. So we threw this off. I'm walking down this hall one day at the studio. This music is playing in the second day. Oh, my God, it's just kicking and the thing is happening. And I decided just to make sure I have that uptempo song covered. I wrote Running with the Night to cover in case we don't need All Night Long. Okay. To make a long story short, Truly was the first single. Truly was also my first Grammy. Hello. We threw off the album the very last minute. We put All Night Long on and Running with the Night. And that was the national anthem of my life story. Hello. All night long Running with the night get out of town.

[Bobby Bones]

You mentioned a Grammy, and we look at you as Lionel, the guy that's had it all, has done it all, has never lost. However, that is a bit revisionist history because he had a tough run at.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

First in the midst of all of this, and he won. And he's doing this and Lionel and everything, and he's this. And. Okay. The real life was. Things were falling apart. The real thing was, what they don't teach you about success, what they don't teach you about growth is outgrowing. They don't teach you that. They don't teach you that your close friends, your family, your wife, your kids, your community. They don't teach you that you come home one day and nothing makes sense because have that flesh. Nobody did anything wrong. Just. You came home one day and Uncle Bill ain't famous, and Uncle Bill is not funny anymore. And so Tuskegee, we gotta get out of town. We gotta go to la, because the studio's right down the street. And all the people I need to meet and know in the radio, television, movie business, they live out there. They don't live next door to me in Tuskegee. Now, when you commit yourself to that, hang on to your seat. When I first went to Los Angeles, California, I made a promise with my first wife, Brenda. We are not going to be like those idiots that are out here and they get married and divorced, and then they do another movie, they get married and divorced. That's some LA stuff. We are not gonna do that. That's exactly what we did. I found out the secret to la. They don't come after the artist. They come after your family. They honor your mother, they honor your father. Guess who's showing up singing, lady? They honor your kids, they honor your friends. And on top of honoring your friends, your new friends in the community, they put a charity behind it and raise money on your friends. I'm not used to that. So the things that were happening was. Things were growing and things were falling apart. Things that I was trying to experience that I thought was amazing, I couldn't fully enjoy it because I'm losing stuff. Things are falling apart. And what you saw during the most amazing period of my life was I lost the Commodores. I. I lost. I lost Tuskegee. I lost my friends. I mean, I lost things that made sense to me. And of course, I knew something was wrong when I decided that I, Brenda, and I are going to break up. And I called Father Jones, where you saw that acolyte picture of me as an altar boy. And I called Father Jones on the phone, and I said, I. I think. I think Brennan and I are going to get a divorce. I'd like some counseling from you. And Father Jones said, I can't help you. And I said, I've never heard of such a thing in my whole life. You're the minister. You're supposed to be able to counsel me on this moment in my life. Why can't you counsel me? He said, because in the history of St. Andrew's Church, no one in the congregation has ever had a divorce. That was Tuskegee. Your mom and dad were your mom and dad forever. In fact, everybody else's mother in town was called Mama. Everybody else's dad in town was called dad. The idea that Mr. Boone and Mrs. Boone were not together, that's unthinkable. I grew up like that. In California, they leave every five minutes. Follow me. So I was adrift. And on top of that, not only adrift, but completely. I never understood the word lonely. But more than that, lonely and confused. Because you go back to Tuskegee to tell folks about your problems. And the answer was, now, how much money you make, boy? You ain't supposed to have no problems. The answer is, money, power and fame does not change you. It only magnifies you. So if you got a big problem, if you got a little problem, put money to that, and you got a big problem. You're in pain, you're confused. Add money to that, it ain't the same. And where's that village that raised me? There is no village in Hollywood, California. There's Westwood Village, where you can go to see ucla, but there is no village of people to help figure out your thing. And you read it in the book. One of my dear friends, just to show you the casualness of it didn't mean any harm. God bless Quincy Jones. But I went to Quincy and I said, quincy, I've got a marriage problem. He said, lionel, how long. How many times have you been married? And I said, this is my first marriage. Oh, Lionel got plenty more. Plenty more. And that's when I realized you can fall in love. You can't afford to fall in love. Not the second time, ladies and gentlemen. The first time is the hardest. The second time, you get a lawyer to cover in case that doesn't work out. Am I talking to you down here? I need. I need an amen. I need. Amen.

[Bobby Bones]

Give her a kiss.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I need a. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. See, y', all, what you do, Bobby, you mess him up now, you mess him. See, let me just explain to you. When you. When you're 23 years old, you can bend over there to kiss. When you're 96, just to squat alone. But anyway, I'm saying to you, I had to get a lawyer. Now, have you ever tried to tell the person you're marrying, I need to get a lawyer before we can do this? What made me paranoid of this thing called marriage? I got suspicious because I was in divorce court and I said, but God said. And the man said, let me remind you, Mr. Richie, God has no voice in my courtroom. I said, so let me get this straight. It took one country preacher to get me in it and four Beverly Hills lawyers to get me out of it with half of my estate. I won't talk about that too much more. But Bobby, I got a lesson here. I am being this love songwriter. Here I am, people going, lila is just the greatest lover of all times. How in the world could I be paranoid of love? The Bobby cast. We'll be right back. All I know is what I've been told. And that to half truth is a whole lie.

[Maggie Freeling]

For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.

[Maggie Freeling]

We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.

[Maggie Freeling]

My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I did not know her and I.

[Bobby Bones]

Did not kill her or rape or.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Burn or any of that other stuff that y' all said. They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her.

[Maggie Freeling]

From Lava for good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.

[Maggie Freeling]

Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good. Plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

People called them murderers. Ten years later, they were gods. Today, no one knows their names. A group of maverick surgeons who took on the medical establishment who risked everything to invent open heart surgery. Welcome to the wild west of American medicine. I'm Chris Pine and this, this is Cardiac Cowboys. If you like medical dramas, if you like heart pounding thrillers, you will love Cardiac Cowboys. Listen on the iHeartRadio app or wherever.

[Maggie Freeling]

You listen to podcasts sponsored by Jasper AI AI. Built for marketers.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

It may look different, but Native culture is very alive. My name is Nicole Garcia and on Burn Sage, Burn Bridges we aim to explore that culture.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

It was a huge honor to, to become a television writer because it does feel oddly like very traditional. It feels like Bob Dylan going electric. That this is something we've been doing.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

For like hundreds of years.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

You carry with you a sense of purpose and confidence.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

That's Sierra Taller Ornelas, who with Rutherford Falls became the first Native showrunner in television history. On the podcast Burn Sage Burn Bridges, we explore her story along with other Native stories such as the creation of the first Native Comic Con or the importance of reservation basketball. Every day, Native people are striving to keep traditions alive while navigating the modern world, influencing and bringing our culture into the mainstream. Listen to Burn Sage, Burn bridges on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Is the Bobby cast.

[Bobby Bones]

So I want to know because I love the documentary on Netflix. I thought it came together wonderfully, made me feel Good. I thought you guys produced it. Well, the song's amazing. We Are the World, like, it lives.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

It lives.

[Bobby Bones]

What story didn't get told in that documentary like a good one that we didn't see that you're like, oh, man, that's a good one.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Well, We Are the World had so many twists and turns and things that you don't understand. But I will tell you a backstory, and God bless him when I. When I tell you this story now understand what I'm saying to you. We loved Al Jarou. Al Jarou is one of the most talented singers in the world. And we touched on it just a little bit in the documentary, but we didn't go deep. So here's the answer. Al wanted to celebrate the song We Are the World before we recorded a damn thing. So Al started drinking about 9 o'. Clock. By the time we got to 1 o', clock, Al was ready to celebrate. And so what you didn't know was it came down to his part in the show. And we got around, and it's Dion, Willie Nelson, and. And it comes into Al, and Al now opens his mouth. And what we heard from Al is, why, why, why, why, why, why? I was holy. Okay? Oh, no. So I look over at Quincy, Quincy looks over at me, and Dion is about to kill him because she's got to harmonize with. With Al. So Quincy said, let's take a break. Let's figure this out. So I go over to Quincy, and he says, okay, what's the problem? I said, he's getting some alcohol from somewhere. We don't have any alcohol in the room. So I went out in the hall, and there in the hallway, his wife did not bring a bottle. She brought the damn case. And he was on the second bottle. Okay. So we went back when we did We Are the World and took every take we could find to get his part right. It's not in sync exactly, but we found one. It was in the early part of Bottle One, but you will never hear that story except on Bobby Bones podcast. Thank you. Thank you. But the truth of the matter was, he was a sweetheart. A sweetheart and talented as hell. But the point was, that particular night, we didn't need any more surprises. And he was the biggest surprise of that evening.

[Bobby Bones]

My final question. You wrote so much about your life in the book from the beginning up until basically now. I want to know what you enjoy now, what you love right now. This version of Lionel Richie.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I wasn't ready for that one. That's good. You know what There's a moment in time. There's a moment in time when you're so busy. Let me tell you about this business. When the light turns green, it's like a supermarket thing. They give you a basket, and how much can you put in that basket before the light turns red? So you forsake anything you know of any kind of common sense, and you just work, write, work, write, work, write, work, right as fast as you can before the red light comes on. The red light didn't come on. The songs stayed around. You can't guarantee that. Up until this book. There's a word that I've been constantly holding onto. It's called fear. Did I enjoy the ride? You better believe I enjoyed the ride. But what was my companion? Fear? It wasn't. I got this. It was, what am I going to do in case the thing turns red? Not realizing it's been 40 years since the light turned green. And so what this book did was it forced me to look over my shoulder. Behind me. I discovered Lionel Richie. I discovered that all the people that you all. You are laughing at right now and waving at and expecting to sing all night Long and we ain't gonna sing all that Love. But, I mean, in other words, it's almost like the imposter syndrome. And what I want you all to understand, I didn't write this book to tell you about the success. I wrote this book to tell you about the fear and the not trusting myself and hopefully finding a way to make this work. Because somebody just may find out I can't play the saxophone. They just might find out I can't play from notes on the keyboard. I gotta make sure. No, no, no. I was trying everything in front, looking real good. And then I started talking about this book. I made it. I actually made it. But even better than making it, I lived through it. I lost. I lost Luther Vandross. I lost Whitney. I lost Michael, Rick James. I lost Sammy. I lost my mentors. Just lost Quincy. I would have loved for them to be here with me to experience this crazy stuff. And then I could tell you all a lot more. Cause then they wouldn't sue my ass. But. But the truth is, what comes with success are sacrifices. If I had known it was going to end up like this, I'd have spent more time with my family if I knew it was going to be the end result like this. And then I realized you can't have both. What they give you is that moment in time where. When your mother's dying, here's the Dilemma. Do I cancel the world tour to go home to check on my mother? By the way, the world tour was the all night long tour. Now do I cancel that tour or do I stay on the phone to see how mom's doing? And of course, thank God she lived through the entire tour. But the point was, your first concern is I gotta go home. I didn't. And then you have friends that call you on the phone, Lionel, I need to talk to you. It's very important that we get on the phone. And I go, I'll call you. I'll call you. Okay, I'll call you back. And then you get home and you decide, I'm gonna return the phone call seven months later. And I said, let me speak to William. Lionel, William died about six months ago. I said, died. Died from what? He said, well, he was trying to get in touch with you to tell you that he had cancer. And that's why he was calling. Okay, I'm here. I'm on stage worried to death that I may not be able to. How do I write a duet with Diana Ross when I've never written a duet? I was definitely under pressure. And I was so busy being under pressure, I let go of a lot of things that I wish I could have been there for. But it's either or, it's never both. And so tonight, what I want you all to know about that book, it's not the success. It's the things I had to overcome to get there. The commitment, the doubt, the fear, the worry to get on this stage. And I want every kid and every person to understand, everyone to understand we're all scared to death. As my dad say, what is the similarity between a hero and a coward? They were both scared to death. It's just one step forward and one step back. In all of my fear. Thank you. In all of my fear, I just kept hearing my father. Are you scared to death? Yes. Step forward. Are you scared to death? Yes. Step forward. Are you in doubt? Yes. Step forward. Do you believe it? Kinda. Step forward. Do you know who you are? No, sir. Step forward. In other words, step forward. Let's take a quick pause for a.

[Bobby Bones]

Message from our sponsor.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

All I know is what I've been told.

[Bobby Bones]

And that to have truth is a whole lie.

[Maggie Freeling]

For almost a decade, the murder of an 18 year old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky went unsolved until a local homemaker, a journalist and a handful of girls came forward with a story.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her.

[Maggie Freeling]

We know a story that law enforcement used to convict six people and that got the citizen investigator on national tv.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran.

[Maggie Freeling]

My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist producer and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I did not know her and I.

[Bobby Bones]

Did not kill her or rape or.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Burn or any of that other stuff that y' all said. They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her.

[Maggie Freeling]

From Lava for good. This is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.

[Maggie Freeling]

Listen to Graves county in the Bone Valley feed on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and to binge the entire season ad free. Subscribe to Lava for Good. Plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

People called them murderers. Ten years later, they were gods. Today, no one knows their names. A group of maverick surgeons who took on the medical establishment who risked everything to invent open heart surgery. Welcome to the wild west of American medicine. I'm Chris Pine and this, this is Cardiac Cowboys. If you like medical dramas, if you like heart pounding thrillers, you will love Cardiac Cowboys. Listen on the iHeartRadio app or wherever.

[Maggie Freeling]

You listen to podcasts sponsored by Jasper AI AI. Built for marketers.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

It may look different, but Native culture is very alive. My name is Nicole Garcia and on Burn Sage, Burn Bridges we aim to explore that culture.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

It was a huge honor to, to become a television writer because it does feel oddly like very traditional. It feels like Bob Dylan going electric. That this is something we've been doing.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

For like hundreds of years.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

You carry with you a sense of purpose and confidence.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

That's Sierra Taller Ornelas, who with Rutherford Falls became the first Native showrunner in television history. On the podcast Burn Sage, Burn Bridges, we explore her story along with other Native stories such as the creation of the first Native Comic Con or the importance of reservation basketball. Every day, Native people are striving to keep traditions alive while navigating the modern world, influencing and bringing our culture into the mainstream. Listen to Burn Sage, Burn bridges on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

And we're back on the Bobby cast.

[Bobby Bones]

I've got three audience questions. These will be quick hitting questions. So tell the story of Stuck on you. This is from Barb. Can you tell the story of Stuck on you? It's the one that goes Stuck on you.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You know, and by the way you all are laughing, I wrote Stuck on you. There are moments on stage where I'll start singing Stuck on you. And for the life of me, I can't think of Stuck on you. I can't think of it because it's. That moment Stuck on you was interesting. I wrote the song for Kenny Rogers. I wrote Truly for Barbra Streisand. Truly. I wrote Three Times a Lady for Frank Sinatra. All right, so you have to understand, James Carmichael found out that I had a stash. So after every group meeting, he'd always go, ah, brother Richie, let's go back to your house and play the songs you wrote for somebody else. And I played him Stuck on you. And the song is very clear. I like. You don't have to ask the question. What's the song about? I'm stuck on you. Now, I'll tell you something funny about why we're talking about Stuck on you. There's no other story that goes along with that, but I didn't realize how special simplicity would be. I'm playing China. I'm playing China. And the minister of education came backstage to me and said, And I couldn't figure out, I'm doing China Idol. And I walk out on stage, and they know every word, these kids. They know every word. And get this. Now you ready For a number? 361 million people watching live. That's China Idol. And they are going to do a medley. Excuse me. I'm going to do a medley of all of my songs. At the end, they gave me this award. And then I learned what they called me. I thought they called me Lionel Richie. Teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher. And I said, what the hell are they? I know a little Chinese. But what's teacher? They said, teacher. Teacher. Okay. Why do they call me teacher? Because we teach English in China on your songs. Easy like Sunday morning Stuck on you hello? Is it me you're looking for?

[Bobby Bones]

All right, two left. Renee from Houston said, if you could sing one song and only one of your songs the rest of your life, what would it be?

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Oh, God. Well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I. Now, what would you all think? What would it. All right. God. You said zoom. Oh, yeah, yeah. All right. So it would be easy like Sunday morning for me. It said everything. It said, I walked into a room one day, I wanted to be famous. We're now famous. The Commodores are famous. And the beauty of this was they brought us a book with 366 pages in it. And from 1 to 360, it told us where we were going to be for the next year, every day for that year, because we're going to play a world tour. And I remember writing down, why would anybody put chains on me? I paid my dues to make it. Everybody wants me to be what they want me to be. I'm not happy when I have to fake it or try to fake it. Leave me alone. And I said, that doesn't sound like a hit record. So I went back, took a break, and came back and said, just want to be easy. I just want to take it easy. I'm easy. Easy like what? It took me three days to figure out what you just said in five seconds. So. So what I want you to understand, don't let anybody fool you about this word called genius. It's called hard work. And asking God and the universe as many times as you can think about it. God, I know you're busy, but you made me famous. And they're looking for easy, like, what? What is it? And in my midst of craziness, like Sunday morning came out and that is everything I was feeling. And I'll tell you that you said another song, which is great if you listen to Zoom. And I said this in the book. I may be just a foolish dreamer But I don't care. Cause I know my happiness is out there somewhere I'm searching for that silver lining horizons that I've never seen oh, I'd like to take just a moment and dream my dream Zoom. And what has happened to me in this book and what has happened in my life is that God was listening and it happened to me.

[Bobby Bones]

I think we end it right there. Ladies and gentlemen, Lionel Richie.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

Bobby Bones. Thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production.

[Maggie Freeling]

The murder of an 18 year old girl in Graves County, Kentucky, went unsolved for years until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came up forward with a story.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

America, y' all better wake the hell up. Bad things happens to good people and small towns.

[Maggie Freeling]

Listen to Graves county on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good plus on Apple Podcasts.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

It'S Ana Ortiz and I'm Markin Delicato. You might know us as Hilda and Justin from Ugly Betty. Welcome to our new podcast Viva Betty.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

We're re watching the series from start.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

To finish and getting into all the fashions, the drama and the behind the scenes moments that you've never heard before. But you were still bartending. I didn't know that. The carpack is like, is that you? And I turn around and it's a commercial for Betty. And I was like, I gotta go. I quit. Listen to Viva Betty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

I'm Bridget Armstrong, host of the new podcast the Curse of America's Next Top Model. I've been investigating the real story behind that iconic show.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

I ended up having anorexia issues, bulimia issues.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

By talking to the models, the producers and the people who profited from it all, we basically sold our souls and they got rich.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

If you were so rooting for her.

[Bridget Armstrong / Nicole Garcia]

And saw her drowning, why don't you help her? Listen to the Curse of America's Next Top model on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Lionel Richie / Ana Ortiz / Markin Delicato / Chris Pine]

This is an iHeart podcast.