I’ll be forever grateful for Lionel Richie

Last year my admiration for the living legend Lionel Richie climbed several steps up, for one huge reason: he brought Shania Twain back. As the world knows, Shania Twain had been away from the limelight and hadn't done anything major in a long time. As a fan, I waited year after year for any kind of news of a new album or a new tour or a new video or anything. What none of us knew was that Shania had been having lots of personal problems, including losing her singing voice and the confidence to sing. But then Lionel Richie decided to recruit her to sing a duet with him for his upcoming duets album Tuskegee. The song was the Academy Award nominated classic “Endless Love”, which he originally recorded with Diana Ross in the early 80’s. Shania originally refused, but Lionel wouldn't take no for an answer and ‘stalked’ her. He personally called and convinced her to sing with him. They recorded the song in Lionel’s vacation home in the Bahamas, in a bedroom, because he said he needed to accommodate Shania and make her comfortable since she was so scared and nervous. This whole process was filmed and shown in Shania’s reality-series Why Not on OWN. Despite Shania’s lack of confidence and the limitations in her voice, she managed to sing beautifully and sound better than ever. The song was released as a single for Lionel’s album, and there was even a music video made! It was all Shania’s fans had been waiting for and it finally happened, after almost a decade of no new material from the country star.The song and the video came out in early 2012, and I have been frantically listening to it ever since. It’s good to see Shania back, doing what she does best, and Lionel Richie made this happen. That is why I feel so grateful for him, he made the impossible happen, and I believe I speak for all Shania Twain fans when I say it was about time.