yes they did love lionel down south and you weren't there and don't know as i wasn't out west and wasn't aware of the full scene there.

you forgot about Michael Joe Jackson who had the kids bumping to his music and then there was everybody else, get the historical facts straight becuase it was MJ that lead that wave.

Prince on the screen put it like that and he had songs where he purposely went for cross over and his band etc... all of his minneapolis crew said that long ago man,

bottom line I dug Lionel, Michael,Rick, Prince,Luther,El,Whitney,Janet,Anita, respect for sade and a few others but they were all about crossing over so if you are going to White Bread a couple then you gotta do the whole lot IMO.

i always said that unless your name was Frankie Beverly and Maze or Steve Arrington, then cross over wasn't in your rearview mirror.

you cool Peoples and One of my favorite cats, but your post and thread are wrong on alot of levels because all of our 80's Heroes pulled a Fonzi and jumped the shark and unlike back then and seeing what has happen in Hip-Hop and where music is now, ain't no need to trip because at the end of the day it is Pop Music.


Stevie did it, marvin did it, Smokey did, Kool and the gang, chaka, George Benson, Al Jarreau,Miles davis, Herbie Hancock, i can go on and on.

your way of thinking is stuck in a time warp in the context of even thinking like that in 2011, because nobody cares no more ecept folks holding a musical grudge and again Lionel Richie never changed who he was.

Brother Man worked for a Black Owned and ran company and nobody and I mean nobody knows more about Music making than Berry Gordy JR IMO and if he green lighted you that meant you had the goods period.

Black co Producer in James Anothony Carmichael

and I can go on. Lionel wasn't pigeonhold.

neither was Jeffrey Osbourne.

typical Hatin on cats having success and being diverse when it was there all along.

you can't even disupte the songs i mentioned by the commodores and you don't have a counter arugment against Heroes, still, three times a lady, sail on, easy all cut in the Ray Charles cloth of Country, Pop and R&B