Dancing and singing All Night Long

Yesterday evening Lionel Richie was in concert at the Sporting in Monte-Carlo, as part of his European tour, singing his hits to a full house. The songs from his extensive repertoire included: You Are, My Love, Hello, Stuck on You, Say You, Say Me, Ballerina Girl, All Night Long, and he finished with We are the World. Richie is in top form at 65 and has the voice and the moves, igniting the audience who knew the lyrics very well and sang along with him, while standing up and dancing, all becoming part of the spectacular show. I got a little creative with the shots below, as they are more like paintings.

Lionel Richie and his band at the Salle des Etoiles at Sporting in Monte-Carlo @CelinaLafuenteDelavotha

Lionel Richie at the piano @CelinaLafuenteDeLavotha

Lioinel Richie Singing and dancing All Night Long @CelinaLafuenteDeLvotha

The Salle des Etoiles had been transformed into a theatre with the usual dining tables replaced by lines of chairs, I guess to accommodate more people. It was a different atmosphere and even Lionel Richie  alluded to it at the start of the show, by saying: “Where are you I cannot see you (referring to the audience) where are the tables?” The lights shined on the audience so he could be face to face with his public, interacting with us constantly, the way he likes it. I have to confess that is was difficult to dance in this set up, but we all did it anyway, such was the electrifying ambiance created by this great artist, whose career spans more than forty years, and keeps going strong. In his dialogue with the public, Lionel Richie said he was performing for three types of people in Monte-Carlo, those who had been with him since he started with the Commodores, the ones that followed a decade or so later, and those who are very young who he welcomes to his world and for whom he explained some of his songs about love, pain and hope.

After a few encores and when we thought the show was over, Lionel Richie came back on stage, to sing We Are the World, with everybody singing along and cheering. The perfect ending to a magnificent concert!

Lionel Richie at the Salles des Etoiles in MC @CelinaLafuenteDeLavotha

Lionel Richie gave a passionate concert keeping everybody dancing @CelinaLafuenteDeLavotha

Full house at the Salle des Etoiles at the Sporting in Monte-Carlo @CelinaLafuenteDeLavotha

Lionel Richie singing his hits in Monte-Carlo @CelinaLafuenteDeLavotha

Lionel Richie at Sporting in Monte-Carlo, March 2015 @CelinaLafuenteDeLavotha

To bring you some of his tunes, watch the video below:

Lionel Richie – A professional career that spans more than 40 years

American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and actor Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr began his professional career in 1968 as a member of the musical group Commodores signed to Motown Records. He made his solo debut in 1982 and has sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time.

By 1987 took time off to take care of his father in Alabama who died in 1990. He returned to recording and performing following the release of his first greatest-hits collection, Back to Front, in 1992. Since 2004, he has produced a total of six Top 40 singles in the UK.

Richie has won four Grammy Awards including Song of the Year in 1985 for We Are the World by USA for Africa, which he co-wrote with Michael Jackson, Album of the Year in 1984 for Can’t Slow Down Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) in 1984 and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for Truly in 1982. Richie has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards and won one. In 1982 he was nominated for Best Original Song for the film Endless Love. “Endless Love” is a song originally recorded as a duet between soul singers Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, who wrote the song. In this ballad, the singers declare their “endless love” for one another. It was covered by soul singer Luther Vandross with pop/R&B singer Mariah Carey, and also by country music in 1986 he was nominated and won the award for Best Original Song for the film White Nights. This song also won the Oscar for Best Original Song.

On October 18, 1975, Richie married his college sweetheart, Brenda Harvey. In 1983 the couple informally adopted Nicole Camille Escovedo, the two-year old daughter of one of the members of Lionel’s band, who they raised as their daughter, Nicole Richie, and adopted her legally when she was nine years old.

Marion RAVEN’s superb opening act

There was a great opening act was by Marion Elise Ravn, known as Marion Raven, a Norwegian pop and pop rock, singer-songwriter, musician (playing electric guitar, piano and acoustic guitar), and presenter. She plays electric guitar, piano and acoustic guitar. The 30-year-old pop rock singer has already had an impressive career, which began in 1995, when she was 11, with her childhood friend Marit Larsen, with whom she became one-half of the now defunct pop duo M2M. In 2005 she released her first solo album, Here I am, which has been a huge success in the US and Asia.

Marion Raven’s superb opening act @CelinaLafuenteDeLavotha

Marion Raven playing the keyboard and singing @CelinaLafuenteDeLavotha

Marion Raven playing the guitar and singing in the Salle des Etoiles at the Sporting in Monte-Carlo @CeinaLafuenteDeLavotha

In 2006 she sang a duet with Meat Loaf, a cover version of “It’s all coming back to me now“. The song was no. 1 in Norway and in the top 10 in the UK and Germany. In 2014 she released a double album, Scandal Vol 1 and Scandal Vol 2, for which she went on tour in Norway and opened for Lionel Richie on 14 dates in Europe.

Raven has also written tracks for other artists such as Pixie Lott and has also lent her voice for the Norwegian version of Tangled. In 2013 she married long-time boyfriend, professional snowboarder Andreas Wiig.

A parting message from 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.”