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• Mr. Richie's official site
• Mr. Richie's official Island Record site
• Q & A with Mr. Richie
• About "Coming Home"
• USA for Africa

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Tavis: I am pleased to welcome Lionel Richie to this program. The music icon has written and performed some of the biggest-selling and most acclaimed songs in the past 30 years, as if you didn't know that. In 1985, he co-wrote and sang on the smash hit 'We Are the World,' which raised millions for famine relief in Africa. This year--I can't believe this, Lionel. This year marks the 20th anniversary.

Lionel Richie: You can't?

Tavis: One of us is getting old.

Richie: You can't believe it? What am I...

Tavis: One of us is getting old, and it ain't me, Lionel.

Richie: Ohh. Please.

Tavis: This year marks the 20th anniversary of that project, which coincides with the new DVD. Here now a scene from 'We Are the World: The Story Behind the Song.'

Chorus, singing: We are the world,

We are the children,

We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let's start giving,

There's a choice we're making,

We're saving our own lives,

It's true we'll make a better day,

Just you and me.

Richie: ...my 6-year-old.

Tavis: It still sounds just as good.

Richie: I--It holds up.

Tavis: Still sounds just as good.

Richie: I'm just in denial. That's all. 20 years. Between my daughter Nicole and 'We Are the World,' 20 years--I'm having a problem. Ha ha ha!

Tavis: Ha ha ha ha! But you know what? I'll say that, but, Lionel Richie songs have a way of holding up, though.

Richie: Man, let's just be thankful for that, please. You know, because interestingly enough, when we were doing it...

Tavis: Uh-huh.

Richie: We had no idea that it was gonna stick around this long. The songs--I'm talking about back with the commodores--are still holding up to this day, and now 'We Are the World,' 20 years later, what are we talking about?

Tavis: I was just in diapers when this thing came out.

Richie: Yeah. I'll--I'll let you get away with that. Ha ha ha!

Tavis: But I've heard about this thing called 'We Are the World,' so tell me what this was and how this thing came to be.

Richie: Ah, I knew you were gonna talk up--Thank you very much. The good news was that we were at a perfect point in the world of music to pull off something like this. Band Aid had just happened over in England, um, and then all of a sudden, Harry Belafonte called me on the phone and said, "You know what? We have a problem. The problem is this. We have--we have the entire world trying to save the people in Africa. What are black folks doing? 'Cause there's no presence with us. What can we do, Lionel?" And so I said, 'OK, Harry, I'll get back to you." Well, I reached out that evening for Quincy, 'cause we used to have our little gossip sessions at 2:00 in the morning, and, uh--and of course Quincy said, 'Well, what are you doing?" I said, "I'm reaching out for Stevie." Well, I couldn't find Stevie. You know--If you know anything about Stevie, you have to put a call in a year in advance.

Tavis: Exactly.

Richie: And so--

Tavis: And then, on top--I'm surprised Stevie got there on--on tape deck, 'cause Stevie will come a year later.

Richie: Well, believe me, Stevie, actually, I couldn't find him, and of course he said, 'Well, if you wanna write this thing, let's write it with Michael. I'm with him tonight." So made the phone call. The connection was perfect. We had decided at that point it would be Stevie, Michael, Quincy, and myself, having no idea of the other 40 artists. And then all of a sudden, we were thinking we'll do this in the future, not realizing we were gonna do it at the American Music Awards.

Tavis: Right.

Richie: And Ken Kragen, at that time, was getting calls from people all over the country saying, "I wanna be a part of this thing." Next thing we know, we had more artists than we could ever--But we didn't know this. They didn't tell us until 2 weeks before it is time to do this thing.

Tavis: Right.

Richie: And sure enough, the pressure came on the last week when we realized we're gonna do it at the American Music Awards, and we wrote this song, uh--Michael and I did it very fast under the pressure, but what gave it even more pressure was I was also hosting the 'American Music Awards' that year.

Tavis: Outrageous!

Richie: Outrageous.

Tavis: Outrageous!

Richie: You know. And not only that, it was just--To show you the impact of this--

Tavis: Now, folk who were 15 do not know what I--what we just did, but anyway. Yeah.

Richie: And just to show you the impact of that, I won 6 awards of the American Music Awards, hosted the show, and left the 'We Are the World' session that same night, came home at 10:00 in the morning, and people were congratulating me on the show, and I didn't remember the show that I had hosted. It--it was that powerful.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Richie: But of course, the rest is history, because it just took off.

Tavis: Yeah, the part--I've talked to "Q" about this any number of times, so I want to get your version of this. I've always been fascinated, though, by how you guys decart--decided who was going to sing what part. 'Cause you got a whole studio full of A-list performers, and everybody, you know, had the right spirit who got in that room that night.

Richie: Well, first of all, there was one thing I wanted to comment on. There was one phrase you could not use that night under any circumstances, and that phrase was, "I'm not sure about that. What do you think?"

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Richie: Because we had 43 creative artists, so if you want the Paul Simon sounding record or the Bruce Springsteen sounding record, you--you couldn't ask that at all. And then, of course, when this thing took off, it was just unbelievable the talent that was there in that room. How we chose it, it's only just in the will of--of God, because it was, um--we were looking for stylists. You only had a half a line to sing. You didn't have a whole verse, so it had to be a voice that as soon as that voice started, you knew that was Willie Nelson.

Tavis: Right.

Richie: You knew that voice was--And the next thing was we tried to find faces. What we found was that you wanted everyone to look at that group of people and say, "Oh, there's--OK. OK. There's Bob Dylan," or, 'OK, there's Willie Nelson," or, 'OK, there's Bruce Springsteen. OK, there's Michael. Oh, there's Lionel." you know, it had to be someone representing their musical taste. And that was the tough part. 'Cause that was unlimited, as far as what we had for resources.

Tavis: Now, there are some folk in there--'Cause I was a little upset that I didn't get invited, Lionel, 'cause I knew you back then. Now, I looked up and saw some folk who can't sing, like Dan Aykroyd.

Richie: Yeah. Well, see--well, see, we needed Dan for the effect. Now, when people see Dan, there was the original Blues Brother, so...

Tavis: OK, I got you. I got you.

Richie: See, we had to go for the effect. By the way, let me just tell you something. As quiet as it's kept, Dan was singing his heart out back there. We didn't give him a mike, but he was on--but he was on fire back there, man. Yeah.

Tavis: Yeah. I also love the story of--when you hear Ray Charles rifting at the end...

Richie: Oh, yeah.

Tavis: He came back in for a later session, did he not?

Richie: Yes, he did.

Tavis: And put his own sig--Tell me about that.

Richie: Well, first of all, that was probably the greatest period of time during--not the whole session, because in between the breaks, Ray would sit at the piano, and he had 15 versions of 'We Are the World.' Because, you know, he's gonna play, so there was a gospel version and the sanctified version and a--and a blues version, but the night he was doing this was so amazing, because he gets so involved. I don't know what clip is on that thing, but he gets so involved in his delivery, what you had to see was on one of those takes, he was singing, knocked the cup of coffee off into the glass that we were singing, right, and ended up singing the other way. The camera's this way. He's singing that way, and Quincy said, "That's a take." ha ha ha!

Tavis: Ha ha!

Richie: But every take with Ray was different and innovative, and he's just spontaneous, and just to be able to say I had a chance to work with him was just one of the highlights of my career.

Tavis: How successful did this end up being, 'cause when you think about famine in Africa, or for that matter, any tragedy or challenge that visits--that has been visited upon that continent and you think of the hugeness, the bigness of the problem, how successful was this project?

Richie: What it did, it--it was actually the end of my innocence, if you want the truth about it. What it did for me was I knew that that day, when we heard the song played in Japan, L.A., New York, London, around the world--this song was around the world. I knew that day we had wiped out hunger in the world. Because now it's no longer a secret. We have now demonstrated that this is what's happening in the world.

Tavis: Right.

Richie: What happened was we all went back to sleep.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Richie: Interestingly enough, it was an event that had amazing magnitude. We raised 65, 80 million dollars, now plus. You know, we're riding down the road with that. The awareness--my 6-year-old is now singing 'We Are the World' in the school. By the way, they had to announce that her dad did it, 'cause she didn't have a clue as to what was--

Tavis: She said, "Who?"

Richie: "Who? My dad?"

Tavis: "My daddy?" Yeah.

Richie: You know. But, uh--but it was just, for me, we--Finding myself sitting in the halls of--of the Capitol, explaining to people that there are people starving to death in the world and with all of the abundance and resources that we have, we ran into so many obstacles--one of them being government, not just American government, but there's so many agencies and people and governments outside of this country that--that we have to work with--that we were losing time. We could feed them, but that was just part of the problem. There's disease, and there's also exposure, so we had to--we had to house them, and so it was just a--it was a huge undertaking. And now here we are, what, 20 years later...

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Richie: And, um, here we are again with the same kind of crisis in a larger scale now.

Tavis: Let me switch gears somewhat dramatically. Since you mentioned this, I want to ask you a question about it. I want to switch--I should admit up front I want to switch from famine to frivolity. Heh heh.

Richie: Ha ha ha ha! I'm with you.

Tavis: Yeah. But since you mentioned it, so how do you deal with being Nicole Richie's daddy?

Richie: I knew you were gonna go there.

Tavis: I--You mentioned--you mentioned it.

Richie: I know. No. No, I said it. I said it. And let me just say something. I always preface that by saying that there are some things in life that a parent should never know about their child...

Tavis: Ha ha ha!

Richie: And vice versa. In this case, Nicole has taught me, um, an interesting lesson, and in my father's great words, "One day, you'll get yours back." OK, well, exactly what I did to my mom and dad, showing up with Tom Joyner at the house--the DuPonts, the Commodores, you know--and afro to here, you know, platform shoes. And everything my grandmother and mother and father said don't do...

Tavis: Right.

Richie: We did it. You got that? Well, my daughter, 20 years later, everything I told her not to do, she is now famous--

Tavis: But she's still your baby, though.

Richie: She's still my baby.

Tavis: And she's as famous as all get out.

Richie: All over the world.

Tavis: Yeah. Is she paying you back any of the money that you put out all these years?

Richie: Can I tell you something, man? I put that statement out there, but then I realized there's not enough money.

Tavis: Yeah.

Richie: She can't pay me back. I just say keep your money. Save it. In fact, let me hold it for you. I'll hold it for you. But of course, that didn't work, either, with my father and mother.

Both: Ha ha ha

Tavis: You are still--We talk about 'We Are the World' 20 years ago, but you are, remarkably, still writing stuff. The CD last year, 'Just For You'--this one came out last year. You're still hearing stuff in your head, huh?

Richie: The wonderful part about this is, I think what I said about 200 years ago when we started out with the Commodores stills sounds off. And that is, I still like this stuff, you know? And as long as the radio is still playing in my head and those songs are not recorded, I'm going to keep doing this. I think that what was said years ago when the Beatles came through and Sinatra--They asked Sinatra, "What are you going to do about all these new guys coming in?" He said, "As long as I can just stay still as each one passes through..."

Tavis: Yeah.

Richie: "and not get overwhelmed with their importance, it'll change again."

Tavis: Yeah.

Richie: And that's what's happening right now, surprisingly enough. Who knew that 'Easy' and 'Brick House' and 'Zoom' and all these songs were going to stick around? Who knew that 'All Night Long' and--Who knew? And just as long as you just keep showing up every day and saying, "I'm doing it again," that's all that matters.

Tavis: Yeah.

Richie: I'm enjoying it though, Tavis.

Tavis: How do you decide what you're going to perform now in concert? Your discography is, like, from here to--from California to the Carolinas. How do you decide, on any given night, what you're going to perform without making your audience upset that you didn't do that one or that one or that one?

Richie: They are going to be upset.

Tavis: Ha ha ha!

Richie: Because the answer is, we have 4 1/2 hours worth of music to play that they are familiar with. And if I could tell you, I did--I'm doing a show, and certain nights, we'll leave out 'Truly,' 'Endless Love,' 'Say You, Say Me.' Just leave it out, you know? Just because you can't do it. It's just not enough time. What I try to do is get a cross of--just a cross section of Commodores, cross section of this stuff. What's funny now is that I'm looking at the front row, you know? 19 to 25 is sitting on the front row again. And I'm laughing, because I'm going, "Wait a minute. Where's Tommy? Where's Ronald? Where are the Commodores?" It--We're picking up another generation now, which is amazing to me.

Tavis: I'm out of time, but you have written so much stuff over the years for yourself and for other people, and, of course, 'We Are the World.' I was listening to something the other day. You mentioned a moment ago that you have 4 1/2 hours worth of stuff that you could sing, 4 1/2 hours of stuff you could sing without a break that people know all the lyrics to.

Richie: And they can sing along.

Tavis: Exactly, exactly--that they know the lyrics to. You know what I was listening to the other day, though, in preparation for our conversation that I hadn't heard in the longest time, and it still sounds just as good? 'Jesus is Love.'

Richie: I knew you were going to go there.

Tavis: That joint was...

Richie: I knew you were going to go there.

Tavis: That song 'Jesus is Love' is unbelievable. And people who really don't know your stuff wouldn't know that song.

Richie: I have to tell you, of all the songs that I have written in my entire career, 'Jesus is Love' is one of those songs, it never fails. People will stop me on the street and tell me about the song and tell me what it's done for them. And again, I didn't plan on writing that song. I did not plan on that being God's song. And to me, it was just a big surprise, but it has lasted throughout the ages.

Tavis: Well, Jesus is love, and he must've loved you, because he gave you a whole lot of talent, Lionel Richie.

Richie: He loves me, my brother, I'm telling you.

Tavis: Nice to see you, man. I'll bet you 20 years later 'We Are the World' still sounds just as good. The web site, by the way, usaforafrica.org, if you want to learn more about this project, since you were in diapers like I was 20 years ago.

Richie: Keep on talking.

Tavis: Go check it out. Nice to see you, Lionel.

Richie: Good to see you.

Tavis: Up next on this program, R&B and jazz legend--from one legend to another--R&B and jazz legend, in a moment, Oscar Brown, Jr., and a special performance. Stay with us.