New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Jaybird Communications) Music business association NARM and digitalmusic.org, the virtual home of NARM's digital initiatives, will present its prestigious Chairman's Award for Sustained Creative Achievement to Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award-winning singer and songwriter
Lionel Richie during the
Music Biz 2012 Awards Dinner Party, which begins at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 10, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The Award will be presented by NARM Chairman of the Board Rachelle Friedman, CEO of J&R
Music & Computer World in New York. Richie, an international icon, has scored countless smash hits, both solo and as a member of the Commodores, and recently released his tenth studio album, Tuskegee, on which he collaborated with top Country artists such as Willie Nelson,
Rascal Flatts and
Blake Shelton to reimagine many of his biggest hits. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart last week with 199,000 copies sold, Richie's highest chart position since 1986. Other
Music Biz 2012 award recipients include Katy Perry, who will receive the Artist of the Year Award, and several others to be announced later.
"Lionel Richie has been a force in the music business for more than four decades and is still going strong today, a remarkable feat that grows increasingly rare each year," said Jim Donio, President of NARM. "Like the music industry itself, he has shown remarkable resilience in the face of countless challenges, and has maintained his artistic integrity and relevance through it all. We are thrilled to present him with the
Music Biz 2012 Chairman's Award."
Richie burst onto the scene in 1968 as a member of the Commodores, who scored two No. 1 hits with "Three Times a Lady" and "
Still" and also released iconic tracks "Brick House," "Easy," "Sail On" and more. In 1981, he stepped out on his own to record the theme song for the movie Endless Love, duetting with
Diana Ross and earning a spot atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Bolstered by this success, Richie went solo in 1982, embarking on a whirlwind career that earned sales of more than 100 million albums, 22 Top 10 hits, five Grammys, an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden
Globe and a host of other awards from virtually every other major entertainment organization. He quickly scored his first solo No. 1 song with "Truly," off his self-titled debut album, and his follow up record, Can't Slow Down, also produced a No. 1 single in "
All Night Long" and won two Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. After a string of Top 10 hits, including the iconic ballad "Hello," Richie won an Oscar for writing and performing "Say You, Say Me," the theme song for the movie White Nights. The track reached the top spot on the Billboard 100 and remained there for four weeks, making it the No. 1 song of 1985 on Billboard's end-of-the-year Hot 100 chart.
After collaborating on the hit charity single "We Are the World" and releasing 1986's Dancing on the Ceiling, which yielded three Top 20 hits, Richie took a break from recording and performing before returning to the road in 1992 in support of his first greatest hits album, Back to Front, which also featured three new tracks. He maintained a relaxed recording and performing schedule throughout the 1990s and 2000s, racking up six UK Top 40 singles along the way, before returning to prominence in the U.S. with the release of Tuskegee, named after the
Alabama town in which he was born and raised. The album represents a full-circle moment for Richie, returning him to his southern roots and reuniting him with classic Country collaborators such as Kenny Rogers, whose No. 1 version of "Lady" ranks No. 47 on Billboard's All Time Top 100. The record also looks to the future, teaming Richie with a new generation of Country superstars who routinely perform his songs in concert, including
Tim McGraw and Rascal Flatts.
On Friday, April 13, CBS will air "ACM Presents:
Lionel Richie and
Friends - In Concert," a special concert event of country music collaborations featuring duets from the album, along with solo performances. Some of Richie's greatest hits will be performed by today's hottest country artists, including
Jason Aldean ("Say You, Say Me"), The
Band Perry ("Penny Lover"),
Luke Bryan ("Running with the Night"), Sara Evans,
Lady Antebellum ("
Truly"),
Martina McBride ("
Still"),
Jennifer Nettles ("
Hello") and
Rascal Flatts ("Dancing on the Ceiling"). Duets with Richie include "My Love," with Kenny Chesney; "Sail On," with Tim McGraw; "Lady," with Kenny Rogers, and more surprises to be announced.
For more information or to register for
Music Biz 2012, visit www.narm.com/events/musicbiz2012.
