"Lionel Richie. If you don't recognize that name because of his superstardom during the 1980s, then it's familiar because of his fanatical adopted daughter Nicole Richie.Richie was born Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr., in Tuskegee, AL on the Tuskegee Institute campus. After attending the school where two generations of his family had worked, he joined the Commodores, the most successful Motown group during the ‘70s. After he left the group to pursue a solo career, his career skyrocketed. During his most successful years, from 1981-1987, he saw a string of 13 Top Ten hits, including the number one hits ""Endless Love,"" (his duet with Diana Ross) ""All Night Long"" and ""Hello.""His sophomore solo album, Can't Slow Down, won the 1984 Grammy for Album of the Year, and he performed at that year's Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1985 he collaborated with Michael Jackson to raise money for the USA for Africa charity with the single ""We are the World."" His run was only slightly broken when other pop legends Jackson and Prince arrived.During the ‘90s Richie struggled with a few personal struggles, including a nasty divorce and a threatening throat problem and took a hiatus from the recording studio for a few years. Motown released a greatest hits album in 1992 titling it Back to Front, which included a few Commodores tracks and a few new releases. But it wasn't until 1996 that Richie himself reappeared with the new album Louder Than Words. He has sold almost 60 million records, earned five Grammys and one Oscar, seen twenty-two Top Ten Hits and a plethora of American Music and People's Choice Awards. He has continued to create several more albums over the years, including the 2006 album Coming Home that features singles with Jermaine Dupri, Raphael Saadiq and Dallas Austin. He and his daughter continue to make headlines."