Lionel Richie Moves 20,000 CDs in One Hour on HSN
Rollingstone.com interviewed Lionel Richie after his HSN live concert.
Lionel Richie hasn't gone so far as to don a cowboy hat – yet – but that hasn't kept him from feeling the love from the country music world: the R&B singer and Eighties pop star sold a whopping 20,000 copies of his new LP, Tuskegee, in a single hour during his live concert event on HSN last Friday night.
For Richie, the crossover to country had been decades in the making. "Conway Twitty wanted me to come years ago and 'be country,'" Richie said, "but I was too busy being a Commodore. Then Kenny Rogers wanted me to go country, but I was too busy being the 'pop' Lionel Richie. Then all of a sudden we went into an area where it was, 'Can Lionel Richie rap?' No!" he said with a laugh. "Trust me. I can do it, but you don't want to hear me. Flava Flav said, 'Don't try it! If you want somebody to rap, you call me. I'll rap. You just sing!"
The HSN Live concert, along with Richie's SXSW appearance last week, were precursors to an upcoming world tour. "My kids are old enough where I can leave home," says the father of three, who admits to loving his role as a grandfather to his daughter Nicole Richie's two kids far more than expected. "I gotta tell ya, I thought it was not going to be sexy at all, (but) I'm having the best time."
For the full interview and review, go to Rollingstone.com
3/19/2012
