Commodores Reunion Tour Planned

James Joyner @ Gone Hollywood | Sunday, June 15, 2008

The Commodores are getting back together. Probably. If they don’t all die first.

Lionel Richie Concert Photo 2008 Lionel Richie performs at the TV Land Awards on Sunday June 8, 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian)

Grammy award-winning pop singer Lionel Richie said Saturday that he and the Commodores will reunite soon for a tour. Richie said a reunion could happen in the next two years.

“We better do it now, or in the next 10 years nobody would care,” he told reporters before singing at Antigua’s Romantic Rhythms festival. Richie, 58, said it was important for the group to get together before it loses more band members. Lead guitarist Milan Williams died two years ago.

Richie was confident that synergy still existed between band members. He said Commodores’ bass player Ronald La Pread joined him on stage during his last tour and played some of the group’s old hits. The Commodores were known for hits like “Three Times a Lady” and “Brick House.”

Richie broke away from the Commodores in the late 1970s and topped the charts in the 1980s with songs like “Endless Love” and “Say You, Say Me.”

The Commodores made their reputation as a funky R&B band but “Three Times a Lady” and similar ballads had more mainstream appeal, much to the chagrin of Richie’s band mates, who were more interested in music than commercial success. For a decade or so, Richie was the king of the romantic ballad, cranking out top ten hit after hit.

Ironically, Richie is probably best known to the younger generation as “Nicole Richie’s dad.”

Source: “Lionel Richie pledges Commodores reunion” (AP/YahooNews)