Hello SA, says Lionel

2008-11-21 11:01

Duncan Alfreds

Cape Town - A music school choir welcomed Lionel Richie at a press conference in the Mother City on Thursday, ahead of the singer's first concert of his SA tour.

Bongani Magatyana, of the Simon Estes Music School, penned Lionel, which the choir sang as Richie walked in to have a chinwag with local media.

"I'm so impressed - I'm taking them with me," he joked. "It has taken me a long time to get here," says Richie in reference to being invited to South Africa in 1987.

"You guys can expect me to perform at half pace," he laughed. "The crowd takes over when I perform; I have never heard myself sing Hello and All Night Long alone."

Melody is important

Asked about modern music, Richie insists that melody is important and he likes artists who respect melody in their work.

"I like Beyoncé and Usher, but right now Rihanna is my favourite. If I was back in my Commodore days - watch out!" he teased.

At the moment, his greatest pleasure is being a grandparent though, adding that he's smitten with granddaughter Harlow.

"Being a grandfather has changed my life; my heart melted at the birth of my grandchild."

His daughter Nicole was the inspiration for his hit Ballerina Girl. "You know, Nicole was involved in figure skating as a child and she looked adorable in her little outfit. I felt so inspired watching her - I went and wrote this song for her."

Fight against Aids

Richie is committed to the fight against Aids, particularly in Africa and says that he has done some work with former US president Bill Clinton's Aids programme.

Despite this, he remains committed to USA for Africa, established by 45 predominantly American artists to raise funds for famine and disease on the continent. We are the World, written in 1985 by Richie and Michael Jackson, raised considerable funds for the foundation.

However, the office had nearly been shut down due to a lack of funding, Richie added.

"We were about to shut down the USA for Africa office about 10 years ago. Then, we got $15m in donations and we started it back up again."

Richie wasn't prepared to fully commit on what his favourite track is.

Biggest tourist

"Oh it depends on what era you're talking about. I like Brick House and Easy from the Commodore days."

"Today music technology is so easy - you can do in a few hours what used to take days - you want to hear how the song will sound in a different key? You just press a button."

As this is his first time in South Africa, Richie has plans to take in the whole experience.

"I'm going to be the biggest tourist you ever saw," he says. "I'm going to be touring: Robben Island - I want to see that," he adds.

·Richie's concert kicks off in Cape Town on November 22 at Sahara Park Newlands, in Durban at the Absa Stadium on November 25, and in Johannesburg at the Coca Cola Dome on November 27 and 28. Tickets are available at Computicket and range from R191 to R881.

- News24