Lionel Richie on his new duets album: I've always been a little country!
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lionel Richie says he has always felt a connection between his music and his favorite country stars.
The legendary R&B star, whose career has spanned decades, is now back on the charts with a country duets album entitled “Tuskeegee.” The album features some of the biggest names in the genre, including Shania Twain, Kenny Chesney, Blake Shelton and Taylor Swift.
“I let them all pick their own songs,” he told Fox411. “A couple of them I suggested, but just, Kenny Chesney with "My Love" and Blake Shelton with "You Are". I mean, come on. And Willie Nelson on "Easy Like Sunday Morning", I mean forget about it.”
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“R&B and Country tell stories, so I think that's what happened in my case was,” he added. “Lionel Richie is not going country, Lionel Richie's songs have already gone country, I'm just joining those kids over there that have already been there.”
The singer is also going to be heading to reality television as well, serving as a mentor for the upcoming competition series, “Duets.” And his superstar daughter Nicole Richie shared some advice with her famous father.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“She’ll say to me dad, watch your voice, we don’t say those words around the kids,” he said. “Excuse me? Like you and Paris didn’t? What are you talking about? It’s really quite fascinating as to her transformation.”