Happy Birthday Lionel Richie!

I think the whole world is dying to hear someone say, 'I love you.' I think that if I can leave the legacy of love and passion in the world, then I think I've done my job in a world that's getting colder and colder by the day.

Einfachheit ist der Schlüssel zu dem was ich mache.

Greatness comes from fear. Fear can either shut us down and we go home, or we fight through it.

Sich die Zeit zu nehmen, sich zurück zu lehnen, um zu Beobachten und Nachzudenken, was du erlebt hast, ist wichtig.

The best compliment that has ever been given to me was, I was at the airport one day and a guy came in and said, 'Lionel, my wife loves you, the kids love you, my mother-in-law loves you, the family loves you.'

Ich genieße es, dass mir, während ich reise und nur in der Ecke sitze und beobachte, eine Million Ideen kommen.

By growing up in Alabama, I had a melting pot of the whole pie: R&B, gospel, country.

I find the greatest songs in the world come out of pain, and I don't like it! Here's what it does: It strips away all of your facade. It makes you so honest. It's cleansing.

All artists are egotistical maniacs with inferiority complexes.

I am a country boy and proud of it.

I always like to challenge myself. I never want to be put into a box.

Lionel Richie, love song, OK, thank you very much, good-bye. And all of a sudden I realized that, in my career, what has made my career has always been the surprises.

People have allowed me into their homes, through my words and my music.

I just like people. I'll hold a conversation at a gas station. It's not about the fame and the fortune, I just like people.

I want to let everybody know that I'm from there, and country is Tuskegee. Or should I say rather, my country is Tuskegee. I was born and raised there, it's not just someplace I passed through one day.

Growing up with country, R&B, gospel, and classical music from my grandmother and pop, Tuskegee was the perfect melting pot for my influences as a writer.

I travel around the world, experiencing every language, every religion... some places where there's just no reason to smile, because their lives are so difficult.

It's quite interesting that in my growing up I had several influences. We had gospel music on campus. R&B music was, of course, the community, and radio was country music. So I can kind of see where all the influences came from.

Taking time to sit back and watch and think about what you've seen is important. Traveling did a great deal to me. I found that when I travel and just sit in the corner and watch, a million ideas come to me.

When I came up with the idea for 'Tuskegee,' I didn't want to be confined by boundaries of age, genre or demographics. I am thrilled with how well this album has been received by people from all walks of life. It is truly living up to the vision we had when we created it.

Your kids can say some cruel things to you at times. For example, Nicole, Miles and Sofie are standing there in the room and I'm dressed to kill in my own mind. They'll say to me, 'Dad, you're not going out there looking like that are you?' If that doesn't kill a star, I don't know what does!

I grew up with the Grand Ole Opry, Dottie West, Conway Twitty, Buck Owens... not realizing it was influencing me as much as it was.

Kids will keep it real. If I've ever had in my life a great anchor, it's them. They get in your head, 'don't get too famous.' If you think you're really famous and think you're really hip, go hang out with your kids for an afternoon. That's about as earthbound as it's going to get.

I find myself going out on the road to get my confidence back, because I lose it at home.

So much of my career has been about saying things the way people say them, using melodies not that I can sing but that the people can sing.

Just when I think it couldn't get any bigger, 'Tuskegee' reaches a new level of success.

People, as critical as it looks, we're OK. We are in control, whether we feel it or not.

Believe me, I love commerce as much as the rest of the readers of 'Businessweek.' But in art, you have to be true to yourself and your musical vision. People have known me well for a long time, so if I was chasing a trend and doing something that wasn't authentic to who I am, they would know it in just a few seconds.