Lionel Richie has announced he is releasing 'deeply candid' new memoir in 2025

Lionel Richie has a lot of credits to his name, and now he’s adding one more to the list - author.

The Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe-winning star has sold over 125 million records worldwide and is about to begin his eighth season as a celebrity judge on American Idol. Now, he's gearing up to release a memoir.

Lionel took to social media earlier today to announce that the memoir, which is currently untitled, will be released in September 2025. 

The synopsis reads:

"In this intimate, deeply candid memoir, Lionel revisits hilarious and harrowing events that seek to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don’t matter. Lionel chronicles lessons learned in the course of his most unlikely of success stories—from a painfully shy, “tragically” late bloomer to his dramatic transformation into a world-class entertainer and composer of love songs that have played as the soundtrack of our lives."

"Funny, warm, insightful and candid, Lionel takes us from his childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he grew up on its university campus during the heyday of the Civil Rights movement—to raucous adventures as a member of The Commodores, to coming-of-age in Harlem where that band took off, to culture shock playing gigs on the French Riviera, to the big break of being signed to Motown, to his meteoric solo career that included an Olympics performance witnessed by 2 billion around the globe, all the way through to We Are the World and his current multi-generational stature as a judge on American Idol."

In what he considers “his darkest period,” he will also recount how he “barely survived” his father’s death, two difficult divorces, a rapidly evolving music industry and an injury to his vocal cords that nearly cost him his voice.

“Richie will share how he lived to tell this story — and through divine intervention, soon took off to higher heights, with one of the greatest rejuvenation stories ever told,” the publisher teased.

“I travel the world, and all people really want to hear is, ‘I love you,’ ” Lionel said in a statement.

“‘I love you’ is forever. And the day we realize we come as different tribes, but we all represent the global family of mankind … the day that happens, we will clearly be united, together, as one.”

Lionel Richie’s untitled memoir is due September 30th, 2025, wherever books are sold.