In December, three of the biggest-selling albums in Motown history are returning to the vinyl format in which they were originally released: Lionel Richie’s self-titled solo debut from 1982 and its two successors, Can’t Slow Down (1983) and Dancing On The Ceiling (1985). Pre-order your copy from the Classic Motown store here.
Between them, the three albums contain such global hit singles as “Truly,” “All Night Long (All Night),” “Hello,” “Say You, Say Me,” “You Are,” “Stuck On You” and “Dancing On The Ceiling.” The first four of these reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Can’t Slow Down and Dancing On The Ceiling were both Billboard chart-toppers in their time; Lionel Richie reached No. 3. Can’t Slow Down also netted Richie a Grammy© award for album of the year and U.S. sales of 10 million copies, qualifying it for a Diamond award from the Recording Industry Association of America. The three titles cumulatively spent 358 weeks on the best-seller rankings during their original release run.
Lionel Richie produced all three albums with James Anthony Carmichael, with whom he had previously worked while in the Commodores. Many of the tracks were later recorded by the superstar singer for his multi-million-selling Tuskegee album with such major country stars as Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Willie Nelson and Kenny Chesney.
The Richie vinyl re-releases are due Dec. 8 from Motown/Universal Music Enterprises. Pre-order now from the Classic Motown store.