Lionel Richie Loves Being Awake Between Midnight and 5 a.m.

BY LANE FLORSHEIM

The musician says the greatest sound in the world is early morning silence.

If you ever have a crisis, don’t ask young people,” Lionel Richie says. “They don’t know. Go ask some seasoned old people.”

Take the time he felt like his life was publicly falling apart and turned to his friend Gregory Peck.

“He said, ‘This is just another day in Hollywood, Lionel,’” said Richie, 76. Or decades ago, when he told Sidney Poitier, “I’m trying to be as eloquent and elegant as you. I’m failing miserably,” and Poitier replied, “You’re doing exactly what I did when I was 40 years old.”

“He said, in other words, get over it,” said Richie.

These trusted mentors are featured throughout the Grammy--winning songwriter and musician’s new memoir, “Truly.” The book spans Richie’s childhood; early career with his former band, the Commodores; highs and lows as a solo artist; family life; and more.

Richie lives in Beverly Hills with his partner, entrepreneur Lisa Parigi. He has three children: Nicole Richie, 44, Miles Brockman Richie, 31, and Sofia Richie Grainge, 27. Here, he discusses drinking three glasses of water every morning and why his nickname is Lionel Scissorhands.

In your book, you write that you go to bed at 5 a.m. Still true?

Three o’clock in the morning is my regular. Just because it’s necessary to talk to God for a minute. To me, it’s the silence.

There’s so much noise out there now. If you know anything about my managers, agents, lawyers, “[American] Idol”—it is noisy.

And so between 12 and 5 a.m., hear that right there? [Silence] That’s just the greatest sound in the world. That’s when I do most of my creating and listening to see where I’m going next and what I’m feeling.

What time do you then get up, and what’s the first thing you do after waking up?

About 11:30 a.m., 12, I’m stirring.

If it’s one of those days where I got really inspired, then it’s 1 or 2 in the afternoon. My friends just fall out laughing when I’m talking to them. They’re on the East Coast having a late lunch, early dinner and I’m talking about having breakfast. They look at me and say, “What’s wrong with you, man?”

How do you like your breakfast?

First I start with three glasses of water to get the system running.

I’m an egg person. Protein, protein, protein, whether it’s turkey sausage or a turkey burger patty.

A little carb here and there. I’ll put in some kind of avocado, that kind of thing. Then I go take a little workout to get the blood flowing.

What was your writing process for the book like? You have an

excellent memory.

I have an excellent memory when it comes to the things I want to remember. Everyone looks at your life and goes, “Oh, my God, and you won this award and you did this.” No, no, no, it’s not the peak. It’s the valley that you had to go back into to get to the next peak.

That was the part I was trying to forget. So a lot of times writing it was remembering the uncomfortable parts, the insecurity.

Now what I’m getting is people start reading the book and go, “Lionel, I had moments of insecurity myself.” Well, now we can relate.

We all have to go through the struggle. A lot of us don’t make it through the tunnel. What I did to get to the other end was to realize how blessed I was.

You wrote, “Fame doesn’t fix you, it just makes you more of who you already are.” How did you deal with your early days of being famous?

What’s going to take you out?

Drugs, alcohol, ego? What saved me more than anything was being not so ego-ed out. I was very cautious. Every time someone said, “Hey, Lionel, try this,” I’d always go, “No, you try it first and let me see what happens to you.” I discovered that I had some limits.

Right in the middle of the ’70s and ’80s, you go to parties and go, “Wow, this is a cool party.” Then you start thinking, “Wait, wait, wait, if my family in Alabama found out about this, would this be something that they would be proud of or…OK. Hey guys, I’ve gotta go.”

You also recount the pranks the Commodores and the Jackson 5 would pull on each other. What’s your best prank of all time?

Not the best prank but the most painful: This itching powder in your Afro on a plane flight. Let’s just talk about that, OK? They thought that was the funniest thing they’ve ever seen before in their life. You were in agony until you got to a shower to get the stuff out of your head.

One of the things I loved reading about was your love of gardening.

I always tell people I bought the property I have now in Beverly Hills because I just wanted to have hedges. Give me something to cut, I turn into Lionel Scissorhands.

My gardening is my Zen.

You just toured South America and you’re about to do Las Vegas.

When you say South America, that’s 100,000 people a night. Las Vegas, [about 1,500]. It’s really the difference I can hear. The crowd in Vegas, what’s so beautiful, is they’re right there. If someone says something in the audience, I can hear them. Everyone says to me, “Isn’t it boring to do the same songs night after night?” The answer is no show is the same.

If you could relive any of your performances, which would it be and why?

The book starts with one of the most memorable, Glastonbury [in 2015]. I had never experienced anything quite like that. We had everyone from 7- and 9-year-olds to grandmas and grandpas sitting out there. They came with posters and signs and mustaches and painted faces. It was just so big.

Did that really happen?

If I had to put one other one, the ’84 Olympics. Two point five ba-ba-billion [who watched]. After that night, my name became “Lionel Richie All Night Long.” In this day and age we live in now, trying to get people to focus on one thing has to be something almost catastrophic, but I had the whole world.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

‘A lot of us don’t make it through the tunnel. What I did to get to the other end was to realize how blessed I was.’