Lionel Richie Says that it’s ‘Surreal’ to Receive the Icon Award at the 2022 AMAs
The 2022 American Music Awards will be hosted by Wayne Brady and will air live onNovember 20th on ABC at
CELEB Magazine
The 2022 American Music Awards will be hosted by Wayne Brady and will air live on
November 20th on ABC at 8PM ET.
Lionel Richie is going to have to force more room for another award on his shelf.
This past Monday, The Oscar and Grammy winner was announced as the recipient of the Icon Award at the upcoming 2022 AMA awards which will mark the sensations 18th award from the AMAs itself.
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Lionel Richie Calls Icon Award ‘Surreal’
Richie states, “I’m immensely grateful for a career that has taken me to places I never imagined that I’d go, from arenas worldwide to studio sets to the AMA stage.” He will then become the only artist to appear on the fan voted show in every decade since it first came out in 1973.
Continuing his statement, “I can recall one of the first times I got to perform at the AMAs,” said Richie. “It was to sing ‘We Are the World’ among the most iconic musicians of my generation, so it is surreal to be receiving this recognition 36 years later.”
Throughout Richie’s time in the industry, he has topped the Billboard hot 100 multiple times with songs that include his tops hits such as “Three Times a Lady” with the Commodores, “Endless Love” with Diana Ross, “Truly,” “All Night Long (All Night),” and “Hello” — all of which also earned trophies at the AMAs.
Lionel Richie Also Was Inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
AMAs executive shared a statement on Richie himself. “Lionel Richie has had a profound impact on countless people around the world and on the music industry as a whole.” Jesse Collins continues to say, “From the millions of dollars raised due to ‘We Are the World’ to the global influence his unique sound still has today, Richie is the definition of a living legend and honoring him with the AMAs Icon Award is a no-brainer.”
The awards show will also become available to stream and watch on Hulu the following day after it airs. As it is being hosted by Wayne Brady, there will also be performances from Pink, Carrie Underwood, Imagine Dragons and many more.
Richie’s announcement as this year’s Icon Award winner arrived shortly after the musician was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday.
During his acceptance speak for the honor, Richie looked back on facing certain things in the music industry.
“I was doing an interview one day, and he said, ‘How does it feel now that you’ve left your roots?’ I said, ‘What does that mean?’ Because at the time I signed to Motown I didn’t know anything about the record business. I didn’t know there was an R&B department and pop department, jazz. I thought I was competing with all the music,” he said, per Rolling Stone.
He then began to share, “And so when I went and said, ‘What do you want me to do?’ And he said, ‘Well, Lionel, you’re not Black enough.’ And I said, ‘Let me ask you a question: If Mozart were black, would he be Mozart?’ And the answer is no. Because he wasn’t funky enough. At that point, I realized I’m going in the opposite direction. Because at this time, I needed to understand there are some people who specialize in their job. And then there’s some people who don’t know any better than God’s gift was, ‘What do you want to write, we can write.’”
Richie had also shared the importance of letting musicians create freely in the way they want to.