Back to the Front : Richie Re-Emerges After Getting His Life in Balance

When Lionel Richie accepted the best song Oscar for “Say You, Say Me” (from the film “White Nights”) at the Academy Award ceremonies in 1986, it was virtually the last the public would see of the high-profile entertainer for nearly six years. Richie walked off stage and promptly reduced his performance and recording schedule to near-zero.

Songs from his “Dancing on the Ceiling” album kept him visible for a while longer that year, but that was pretty much it from Richie as a recording artist until Motown’s release last month of “Back to Front,” a greatest-hits collection with three new songs--including the Top 5 R&B; hit “Do It to Me.”

How could an artist whose songs had reached No. 1 for 12 consecutive years, who had won five Grammys, an Oscar, 13 American Music Awards and a Golden Globe, turn away from such a successful career?

“It was time to address the personal side of my life,” says Richie. “I figured that if I hadn’t earned the right to take a few months off--and at that time I thought it would only be about a year--then there was something really wrong.”

Looking relaxed and casual in shirt and jeans, his voice soft, his manner easy, the 42-year-old Richie, a resident of Bel-Air and father of a 10-year-old girl, Nicole, appeared to be very much at peace with himself during an interview.

But he had been in the fast lane for more than 14 years--first with the Commodores, then, from 1982, with his own meteoric career--when he took his break. It’s clear that serenity has been a while in coming.

“How many family reunions did I miss?” he wonders. “How many Christmases did I jet in for four hours to open the presents, and then jet right back out to play a date that night?

“And then there were the Thanksgivings and the birthdays. ‘Happy birthday, Mom. I’m going on stage. See you.’ That was my standard phone conversation.”

Richie knew something was missing, though his professional life had been the kind of image-enhancing, ego-gratifying, creative tour de force that most performers can only dream of.

“But Dad was getting older,” says Richie, “Mom was getting older, Grandma was getting older, my friends were getting older. I had the greatest friends in the world, and I wasn’t sure if I was being a good friend for them.”

So Richie took his hiatus and mended his relations with family and friends. Most of his family. During that period, his 17-year marriage came to an end amid a highly publicized brouhaha in which his wife was arrested for battery and disturbing the peace after finding the singer with another woman.

“And things go in threes,” says Richie. “As one tragedy started coming down the tube, something else started wobbling. The truth is that even when I was focusing on my career, the problems were probably sitting there all the time. But I just never paid--or maybe I didn’t want to pay--much attention to them.

“But my father’s illness demanded my attention right away,” adds Richie, whose father died two years ago. “And so did the throat polyps I had to have removed. And, finally, so did the divorce.”

The planned yearlong break stretched into more than half a decade. Rumors were rampant. Had another celebrated entertainment career self-destructed?

Richie smiles as he replies, “Most of the time, when people take off for five years, they come back with these great stories. You know, ‘I went to the Betty Ford Clinic, and then from there I had my nervous breakdown, then they carried me offstage,’ and so on.

“That’s not what happened to me. In fact, one guy interviewed me and said, ‘That’s boring. You mean that didn’t happen to you?’ I mean, he looked as if he was disappointed that I hadn’t gone to pieces!”

The real motivation for Richie’s hiatus--a re-balancing of his life--appears to be a lot more simple, but it was no less difficult to handle.

“You spend so many years as a professional,” he explains, “until you reach the point where you have your wings all together. You can fly. But then you suddenly look over here in your personal life, and you’ve got these little, tiny baby flaps that can barely support you. And you say, ‘I know I’m Lionel Richie, and I’m doing quite well over here in the music business, so why can’t I fly the same way in my personal life?’

“I had no concept of what a personal life was. It was just, ‘Give me the plane ticket. Where are we going? Who’s meeting me? Showtime!’ ”

Five years can be a lifetime in pop music. Does Richie feel he can compete in the ‘90s?

The success of the single “Do It to Me,” with its ultra-hot video and strong Commodores resonance, would seem to suggest that Richie still has a powerful affinity for the public pulse.

The retrospective album completes his Motown contract, and he’s now listening to bids from that label and the other majors as he prepares to record a full new album next month. Some of it will be produced by English producer Stewart Levine, who did the three new songs on “Back to Front.”

Equally important, Richie has the look and the manner of a performer who has gotten a grasp on the balance he has spent the last several years trying to attain.

“What’s happening with me now, I hope,” concludes Richie, “is that I’m making friends and coming to peace with myself. The uphill struggle of having one more No. 1 song, one more incredible video, is still there, sure. But I want to keep that struggle in balance with the other, just as meaningful, things in my life.

“I mean, when you’ve already (performed at) the Olympics with 2.4 billion people watching, no radio airplay in the world can ever match that. So I’m trying to forget about the numbers and just be content with who I am, right here, right now.”

Endless Hits

Lionel Richie has sold more than 25 million recordings in the United States over the course of his long career. But he hasn’t released a record in nearly six years.

Albums

TITLE YEAR PEAK SALES WITH COMMODORES “Natural High” 1978 No. 1 1 million “Heroes” 1980 No. 1 1 million “In the Pocket” 1981 No. 1 1 million SOLO ARTIST “Lionel Richie” 1982 No. 3 4 million “Can’t Slow Down” 1983 No. 1 10 million “Dancing on the Ceiling” 1986 No. 1 4 million

Singles

TITLE YEAR PEAK SALES WITH DIANA ROSS “Endless Love” 1981 No. 1 2 million SOLO ARTIST “Truly” 1982 No. 1 1 million “All Night Long” 1983 No. 1 1 million “Hello” 1984 No. 1 1 million “Say You, Say Me” 1985 No. 1 1 million

Source: Billboard Book of Gold and Platinum Records