NORTH SOUND, Antigua—Other than the scope of their work—with 165 million albums sold, eight Grammy Awards, and a combined 90 years as active performers—you might think that music legends Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers were musically incompatible. But as we learned at the 2008 Antigua and Barbuda Romantic Rhythms Music Festival, these two have a bit of a history together.
Richie sat down with reporters before performing on stage at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Friday, June 13. The next day, Kenny Rogers stopped by before his show and asked about him. The Epoch Times was there.
Question: What was your first impression of Antigua?
Lionel Richie (LR): You can't help but be inspired. That's the wonderful part about this. I've been traveling the world, and I'm amazed that I can come to a place and it still fascinates me. How did I miss this? If you feel the vibe, you'll write the song. If you're around movie people, all they want to do is see what that existence is, and they'll go back and make a movie out of it, or use it as a destination. I use it as a song. So just understand me that this vibe here is something that will trigger something in me that will come back and end up in a song.
Q: So is this where you got the vibe for All Night Long, in the Caribbean?
LR: Believe it or not, that's where the vibe came from. I'm one of those guys that—I don't look for something new. I look for what people do every day. And I noticed that, anytime I would come on vacation, everybody who can rap is on vacation doing a calypso dance. Everybody who's singing opera, they conform to some form of calypso or some form or reggae. So when I went back to do All Night Long, it was very simple. All I had to do was find that beat that everybody dances to when they go on vacation. That was All Night Long.
Q: What do you prefer, writing or singing?
LR: The writing is something that touches me because when people walk up to you and say, "I was engaged on your song. I was married on your song. I had kids on your song. I got divorced on your song. … My mother was buried on your song. …" You have no idea how they've taken these songs and applied them to their lives. The writing is actually something where I write something that you would want to say, but didn't know how.
Q: Have you ever performed with Kenny Rogers in the Caribbean? LR: Actually I did twice, on the Country Music Awards; he didn't know I was coming, and I was hiding out in Dottie West House, 'cause remember now, Nashville—I'm sure is just like here—if one person knows it on the island, the whole island knows it. Well Nashville is the same way. They wanted me to surprise him. So when this show started, I was living at Dottie West House for that day. And then that night they snuck me to the show. When he went out to sing Lady —at the second verse I came out from behind the curtain and the crowd was just, you know, and I surprised Kenny.
The second time I went to one of his concerts. And I'm sitting in the audience, trying to enjoy his show. And Kenny said, "What are you doing out there, come on stage!" [laughter]
But honestly, I'm so sorry I'm not going to be here tomorrow night, because truthfully, we are the best when it comes to kidding around on stage. I don't know if you've ever seen us on television together, but we're the biggest jokesters together. So we don't have to rehearse anything. We just go on stage, and you get to see the benefits of just friendship. 'Cause he's been that way since I've ever met him.
The Next Day …
Kenny Rogers (KR): Did Lionel sing Lady last night?
[Reporters argue whether he did or not.]
KR: I sent word to him, "Do not sing that song." He wrote it, and I said, "Wait, wait, wait. That's my song. Find your own song." [laughter]
Q: But he sang "Stuck on You."
KR: Oh, that's a great song. The great thing about him is that he's got so many world-class songs that fit into that groove thing you're talking about. I'm sorry I missed him, because we're really good friends. We see each other about every ten years, but when we do it's really fun.
Q: Give us a little more background on your history with Lionel.
KR: When he was with the Commodores, that group was breaking up and he was living in Tuskegee [Alabama]. And I said, "You need to come to L.A. if you're going to get involved in the music business." So I literally brought him to L.A. and he lived in my guesthouse. Which he never paid rent on, I might add. [laughter]
He's just such a special person. He's got so much heart. He wrote a song that I'm doing on my new album called "It's not Easy to Say Goodbye," and it's about when his mom died. And he said it took him five years to address that. But it's just a wonderful piece of music.
Additional Reporting by Matthew Simon.
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