AMERICAN IDOL - ABC's "American Idol" judge Lionel Richie. (ABC/Craig Sjodin)
American Idol is back for season 18 overall, and judge Lionel Richie is returning for a third season with the show. Richie is 70 years old, making him the oldest judge on the Idol main cast. He stands at 5’11” tall.
Richie is joined by Luke Byran, 43, and Katy Perry, 35, on the judging panel. Together, along with host Ryan Seacrest and in-house mentor Bobby Bones, they make up the main cast of the Idol show.
Richie first appeared on American Idol back in the original season 2, when he showed up at auditions as a guest judge. He came on as a full-time judge after the rights to the show were bought by ABC and it was rebooted.
Read on to learn more about Richie.
American Idol Teasers Show Richie Being the “Mean Judge”
In a clip posted by People, Richie offers his brutally honest opinion to an auditioning contestant.
“We have a problem,” Richie said in the clip. “Well, a big problem actually because I don’t like you.”
The other judges gasp while the contestant looks on, shocked. He continues, “I don’t like you and for some weird reason, it’s just not sitting well with me. I don’t like your voice… I don’t like your attitude, and I don’t really think you’re gonna make it in Hollywood.”
Richie isn’t only tough on contestants on the American Idol stage, though. He is also tough on his family. People recently reported that he told his daughter he hopes she fails, but only because he hopes it feels that much better when she does succeed.
He told his daughter, Sofia, that she was going to have a different experience than he had when he started in the industry.
“I said, ‘You’re going to have a little bit more of a different time because you’re coming from a family where they expect a little bit more,” he said. He also went on to say that Sofia has “got the attitude” and mentioned she’s a singer.
Richie is also father to Nicole, who is 38 years old, and Miles, who is 25. They all work in the entertainment industry.
Richie Has Been Working in Music Since the 1960s
Starting in 1968, Richie was a member of the funk and soul band Commodores. The band became a popular soul group with Richie at the front as a singer. He launched his solo career in 1982 with his solo album Lionel Richie. His 1983 album sold twice as many copies as his first, and “We Are the World,” which he co-wrote with Michael Jackson, sold over 20 million copies.
Since starting his career, he has sold over 90 million records internationally. He has won multiple Grammy Awards and has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards and won one of those. He also won an Academy Award.
Richie received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016. He has released 10 studio albums over the course of his career, with the most recent being Tuskegee in 2012. He also appeared in Lionel Richie: Dancing on the Ceiling, which was part of the BBC Four documentary series Black Music Legends of the 1980s.
Tune in to American Idol Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC to watch Richie interact with the contestants and see who becomes the next American Idol.
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