Artists aren’t often the best judge of their own work. Perhaps because they’re too close to it, or perhaps they’re a bit unwilling to embody some of the sentiments of their songs. Many a smash hit might have been lost to history without objective parties around to convince the composers of the worth of those songs.
Such was the case with “Hello” by Lionel Richie. Richie thought the song’s refrain might be on the corny side. After several years of putting the song on the back burner, he got a necessary second opinion and came up with a massive hit in 1984.
The Master Balladeer
Richie made his bones as one of the chief songwriters and singers for The Commodores throughout the ’70s. The band churned out almost an album’s worth of harder-edged funk and R&B each time they settled in to record. Then they’d leave some room for Richie to take over on the ballads.
A bit of a creative …