In recent years his once blazing hot career has cooled, but now Mr. Richie is hoping to regain relevance with a new album, “Coming Home,” which will be released today by Island/Def Jam. In an effort to ensure that his latest effort doesn’t end up being largely ignored like several of his recent albums, he has teamed up with young hit-making producers like Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin and Raphael Saadiq. “I asked them, ‘What does Lionel Richie sound like in 2006?’ ” Mr. Richie said, “And they said, ‘The same way he sounded like in 1976 — we’ll just bring you new beats.’ ”...
...Mr. Richie couldn’t help taking a swipe at the crop of new artists. “Today we’ve learned to celebrate mediocrity,” he said. “Back in the day we had creative artists; today we have created artists.”
Posted by jsmooth995 at September 12, 2006 1:15 AM
