Bro Lionel Brockman Richie Jr

 

Bro Lionel Brockman Richie Jr

Bro Lionel Brockman Richie Jr was born on the 20th June 1949 in Tuskegee Alabama, the son of Lionel Brockman Richie, a U.S. Army systems analyst, and Alberta R. Foster, a teacher and school principal. His grandmother Adelaide Mary Brown was a pianist who played classical music.

He signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1968 for one record before moving to Motown Records originally as a supporting act for the Jackson 5, the Commodores became an established soul group in 1974. 

In 1982 Bro Richie left the Commodores and started his solo career realising his first solo album “Lionel Richie” that contained three single, US number one hits. Over the years he has won four Grammy Awards including song of the year in 1985 for “we are the world” which he co-wrote with Michel Jackson, Album of the Year in 1984 for Can’t Slow Down, Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) in 1984, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Truly in 1982, Richie was the first person to receive an RIAA diamond album award and has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards and won one. 

In 1982, he was nominated for Best Original Song for the film Endless Love. In 1986, he was nominated and won the award for Best Original Song for the song “Say You, Say Me”, featured in the film White Nights. This song also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. 

Bro Richie was initiated into Freemasonry in 2008 into Lewis Adams Lodge No 67 under the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Alabama which meets in his home town of Tuskegee, and remains a regular attender.  He attained the 33rd Degree in the Scottish Rite on the 24th October 2017.

Resources:

Freemasons NZ - published in Masonica

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Richie

https://guernseyfreemasons.org.uk/2025/10/14/brother-lionel-richie/

Photo 1: Lionel Richie in December 2017 at the 2017 Kennedy Center Honorees.  By U.S. State Department - https://www.flickr.com/photos/statephotos/38832214941/in/photolist-22ayQ4r-215bWSS-22atfBg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64602544

Photo 2:  The Commodores, in an early 1970s publicity photograph.  By Motown Records - ebay, Archive, Worthpoint, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147918116

Photo 3: Lionel Richie accepts the 2022 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during a tribute concert at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., March 9, 2022. By Shawn Miller/Library of Congress - https://www.flickr.com/photos/library-of-congress-life/51930307118/, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=120718936

Photo 4: https://www.facebook.com/groups/264422301915/