Lionel Richie Net Worth, Age, Height, Wealth (Updated 2022)

Lionel Brockman Richie Jr., also known as Lionel Richie, is a famous American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. In the 1980s, he was one of the most successful musicians with the band Commodores. Today Lionel Richie’s net worth is approximately $200 million.

How Did Lionel Richie Become Rich?

Lionel Richie was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on June 20th, 1949. He is the son of Lionel Brockman Richie Sr., an American army officer and Alberta R. Foster, a teacher. He has a grandfather who he found out later to be the national leader, J. Louis Brown, in the post-civil war of an African-American organization.

During Lionel Richie’s early life, he graduated with an economics degree from Joliet Township High School, Illinois. He got into a Tuskegee Institute on an athletic scholarship. Thereafter he studied divinity and he became a priest in the Episcopal Church before he realized that he wanted to continue his musical career.

During his study in the mid- 1960s, Richie formed different R&B groups and he became a singer and saxophonist for the Commodores. Soon after, the Commodores band first signed a contract with Atlantic Records before moved on to Motown records. Since then, the Commodores has become the first well-known soul group with its funky sound and romantic songs in ballad genre, easy to listen .

Lionel Richie started to make money in 1974 when he composed a song along with Jeffrey Bowen and Donald Baldwin called “Happy People”, his first commercial success song. From there, Richie started earning a commission as a songwriter from other artists. In 1978 Richie’s, the Commodores had four platinum and fourteen gold records, and a tour that generated $6.5 million. In 1980, he wrote a song for Kenny Rogers called “Lady”, which reached the number one hit on the international stage. The next year he produced Roger’s album, “Share your love”.

Richie performed a song called “Endless Love” with Diana Ross in 1981. Shortly after, the song became one of the biggest hits of Motown Records. The song topped the international pop charts in many countries such as Canada, Brazil, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the US.

In 1982, Richie’s successes drove him to start his career path by himself. His first album is called “Lionel Richie”. He had three hit songs which are “Truly”, “You are” and “My love”. As a consequence, Richie’s album sold over 4 million copies. The following year, Richie’s second album called “Can’t Slow Down”, the best album of the year, won two Grammy Awards and sold over 20 million copies. He became one of the international superstars.

In 1984, Richie performed at the closing of the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. By 1985, he was a music icon and a charity superstar who wrote a charity song called “We are the World”. He collaborated with Michael Jackson and the record sold over 20 million copies.

Lionel Richie’s famous hit, “Dancing on the ceiling” costs $400,000, the most expensive video at a time and a record-breaker. Lionel Richie enjoyed performing in the grand stages, where he earned enormous amount of money as an artist. In 2013, he earned 1.3 million dollars for featuring in Tap King beer’s campaign.

With Richie’s talent and success, he has been offered to work as a judge at the famous television show called ‘American Idol‘. He was offered a $2.5 million salary per season, but he refused. Thereafter, Richie has been offered a new initial salary of $10 million, which he accepted; he is currently getting paid $10 million per season as an American Idol judge. According to the WSJ report, Richie has earned more than $40 million from the American Idol show.

What Is Lionel Richie Net Worth?

In 2023, according to the calculation, Lionel Richie has an approximate net worth of 200 million USD. He lives in a luxury mansion in Beverly Hill that is worth $11 million. Richie also owns a massive mansion and many supercars. He has sold more than 100 million copies of his music throughout his music career.

Lionel Richie has been awarded four Grammys and an Academy Award for “Best Original Songs”. In 2016, he received the title from the hall of fame as the highest honor songwriter. In the same year, Lionel Richie got to perform as a resident at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, which we know, offers large payouts for the participating artists. As a result, he is still entitled to receive more cash through his copyright rights.

He also launched a line of ornate dinnerware, glassware and home décor items called “Lionel Richie Home”. In 2018, he introduced new products such as towels, duvets, decorative pillows, quilts and sheets.

How Lionel Richie Spends His Money?

Lionel Richie helped to raise over $3.1 million for a Breast Cancer Research campaign, as he is motivated by his grandmother who was diagnosed with the disease but has survived cancer.

Lionel Richie is fascinated by art. He loves to spend his hard-earn money on buying expensive art pieces from Jean Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol and other renowned artists. Forthcoming Richie plans to open his museum so he bought his family home and lands in Tuskegee, Alabama to run a showcase museum. He wants the museum to feature his awards, clothes and other highlight items that he collected from his nearly 5-decade career life.

Interesting Facts

• Richie’s first band was called the Mystics, not the Commodores. The Mystics band later was merged with the band called the Jays and it became the Commodores.
• Richie dropped out of university when his band became more successful. Richie’s dad was upset about his life choice at that time.
• He learned piano by ear from his grandmother. He watched her playing piano and memorized the hand movements of his grandmother. Richie’s grandmother is a classically talented pianist.
• Lionel Richie’s grandmother survived cancer in her eighties and lived till 103 years old.
• Richie never actually studied music theory. He cannot read or write music. He was a natural talent, learning music by memorizing.
• As a kid, Richie was labeled as being oversensitive which later on helped with his musical career.
• He was married twice: Brenda Harvey was his first wife and their marriage lasted 18 years (from 1975 to 1993). His second wife was Diane Alexander  whom he married on December 21, 1995. Richie divorced her too in 2004.
• Lionel Richie currently dating Lisa Parigi who is his new girlfriend. They began their relationship in 2020.
• Lionel Richie has two daughters: Nicole Camille Richie (adopted when she was 9 years old) and Sofia Richie (born 1988). He also has a son Miles Brockman (born in 1994).
• In 2008 Lionel Richie became a grandfather when Nicole Richie had a baby girl with Joel Madden. In 2009 she had her second child.
• Richie loves oatmeal cookies and carrot cake.
• Lionel Richie isn’t gay.
• He is of African-American ethnicity mostly, but he has ancestors from Europe and Northern America (Native Americans) as well.
• Richie is now 73 years old and has no plan to slow down. He is still touring this year and will do so next years.