Lionel Richie is back with a bang. The ageless superstar has sold 100 million records in a 50-year career, but this summer he'll surf the zeitgeist again when he appears at Glastonbury. In an exclusive interview in the latest issue of
GQ, he discusses the highs and lows of his life, as well as the loves of his life. Of which there have been more than a few...
Here's a preview of the interview from the July 2015 issue of
British GQ, available on Thursday 4 June on newsstands and as a download for your digital device.
On having a high bed-notch count
"When the touring [with the Commodores] started we knew we were gonna do a hundred shows in as many cities, maybe more, in a year.
So we decided: we're gonna make love to every girl in the world.
That was our mission statement."
On whether he kept score
"No, no, no. I mean...we all kept score, yeah. We were college guys, so we liked stats. And when you start out, it's madness: there's one in the morning, one in the afternoon, one in the evening. It's great. You're killing it. But all of a sudden you get to the fifth show and you're, like: Everybody get out of my room! You can't do it. I don't care whether you're 19 and sexually possessed - you can't do that and put on high-heeled boots and run across the stage every night. That's why drugs became so inviting: because you get a hit of this, and it gives you the stamina. But how long does it last? And then you're in rehab, and what kind of bullshit is that? Or you're falling down on stage and passing out halfway through the show."
While he doesn't pretend that he now lives like a monk ("I'm in the love seduction business") he insists that this period coming to a fairly swift end
"It wasn't the sex and it wasn't the drugs. It was... babies. Holy shit! The first time you get that phone call when someone says... hey, guess what? That's called fear, shock and awe. That's when I realised the gun was loaded, you know what I'm saying?....you start hearing stories from guys in other bands of 'I went to Philadelphia to meet my kid', 'I went to New York to meet my kid.' That puts the fear into the heart of any 19- or 20-year-old. A lot of guys didn't care. But fortunately enough, The Commodores had a different standard there. We had some basic ground rules. As much as I would love to think we were dangerous we weren't as dangerous as the dangerous guys. We were Ivy League funksters as opposed to the hard core."
On getting pleasure from stories of how he helped get other people get laid
"Y'know something? I get more compliments from men than women.
Guys use one word: thanks. 'The greatest times of my life, Lionel, you were right there, baby.' Or, 'Hey, Lionel - I've made love to you many times.' And I'm, like, 'That's a lie. I've never touched your ass in my life!" It's the simplicity of the songs, I think, that works. A guy once came up to me and said, 'Hey, you wrote 'We Are The World"? You should have called it "I Populated The World"' heh-heh-heh-heh-heh!"
The July issue of British GQ is on sale from Thursday 4 June 2015 in both print and as a digital edition that you can download for your iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire or Android device.
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