Lionel Richie, who received the Gershwin Prize for lifetime accomplishment from the Library of Congress last month, is a natural performer.

Correspondent Kelefa Sanneh stated when visiting the Library in Washington, D.C., “It’s so cool to be in this building. They got all these writers up here: Aristotle, Hugo, Richie!”

“I like the way that sounds,” Richie laughed. “Although you must admit, now, I mean, this is slightly overwhelming.” added, “You’re here not as a tourist – you’re being inducted?”

“I keep thinking of Tuskegee, Alabama,” Richie said. “That’s where it started.”

Richie has been a global celebrity for almost 50 years, first as a member of the Commodores, then as a solo performer, and now as a judge on “American Idol.”

Nonetheless, Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. credits his views to his parents, Lionel Sr., a U.S. Army system analyst, and Alberta Foster, a teacher, who met on the Tuskegee University campus.

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