Singer Lionel Richie, who has a line of luxury home entertaining products called Lionel Richie Home Collection, shared 25 interesting facts about himself with Us Weekly.
• When I was growing up, I wanted to be an Episcopal preacher.
• I am restoring the family house in Tuskegee, Alabama, that I grew up in. It was given to my grandparents as a gift from Booker T. Washington.
• I was an economics major at Tuskegee University, with a minor in accounting.
• I’m an active gardener and well-versed in plants and flowers. I go to my garden when I need a quiet place to reflect.
• My favourite flower in my garden is the bougainvillea.
• I used to be painfully shy.
• I joined the Commodores when I was in college. I told my dad I would drop out of school to join a band that would become “the black Beatles.”
• I am a junior. My dad was Lionel Richie Sr. and the funniest man.
• My mother was a school principal.
• My favourite food is homemade Southern cuisine.
• When traveling, I spend most of my time in art galleries.
• If I didn’t spend my career singing, I would have been a landscape architect or interior designer.
• I’m addicted to design magazines.
• And I’m a collector of fireplaces.
• My grandmother was a classical pianist in the middle of the civil rights movement.
• I took Nelson Mandela shopping in 1990. It was an incredible moment.
• I make a pretty mean peanut butter sandwich.
• I don’t know how to read or write music.
• I have a sweet tooth and love oatmeal cookies and carrot cake.
• My daughter Nicole Richie, 34 calls me “L-Train.”
• And my grandkids Harlow, 8, and Sparrow, 6 call me “Pop Pop.”
• I’m a news junkie. CNN is always on in my house and hotel rooms.
• Every morning, I drink a glass of hot water with lemon.
• Soccer player Lionel Messi, 28, was named after me.
• My dog Napoleon (Poly) is a King Charles. He doesn’t listen to me ever.
