Lionel Richie on Michael Jackson: A Rivalry Forged in Respect, A Friendship Tragically Consumed by Fame

Lionel Richie has offered a uniquely intimate and poignant look into his decades-long relationship with Michael Jackson, detailing a journey from spirited rivalry to deep friendship, their historic collaboration on “We Are The World,” and ultimately, how he witnessed “fame, money, and power” swallow his friend whole.

“I’ve known Michael since he was about 9, 10, 12,” Richie recalled, explaining their paths crossed when The Commodores toured with The Jackson 5. “I had a little midget called Michael Jackson at age nine. There was a thorn in my side,” he confessed with a laugh, admitting, “That little boy could dance, sing, write, arrange, produce. And I’m much older and I’m going, ‘I got to beat that little boy.’” This initial competitiveness evolved into a “wonderful competitive friendship” where they constantly pushed each other to greater heights.

Richie shed light on Jackson’s innate musical genius, noting, “Michael Jackson could not read or write music… He couldn’t play any of his songs. He can hum them.” When asked how he wrote, Jackson would say, “It came through me.” Richie understood, “He’s right… Can you hear the music?”

Their most iconic collaboration, “We Are The World,” came about when Quincy Jones suggested it. “This is the first time we ever created together, and it was amazing,” Richie said. The writing process, he explained, “wasn’t difficult because we both knew what we had to do.” He described them humming the melody, operating on the “same frequency.” The sessions weren’t without incident; Richie hilariously recounted his terror when Michael’s albino python made an appearance. “I was screaming like the last woman in a horror movie,” while Jackson casually remarked, “He likes you… he wanted to come out and meet me.” They penned the global anthem “under that pressure.”

However, Richie watched with growing concern as Jackson’s stardom reached astronomical levels. “I saw his dreams swallow him up,” he stated gravely. “He actually did go beyond the bar to the point where it was so famous, it was so incredible, he fell under his own weight because he couldn’t maintain that level of famous.”

Richie himself experienced the crushing demands of superstardom in the late 1980s. “I think once I saw Michael wobbling and I saw Prince go through his… I realized what was happening.” A call from his ailing father prompted Richie to step back. “What ended up to be a year off became three years off. But I must tell you, it was probably… the thing that saved me.” He reflected, “Fame, money, and power does not change you. It only magnifies you. If you got a little problem, by the time you get 90 to $100 million, it could kill you.”

He understood Jackson’s anxiety surrounding his planned “This Is It” comeback tour. “He does it bigger and better than anybody… I think that’s what his anxiety is right now is how much of the kitchen sink do you get on that stage at the O2?”

Richie pinpointed a critical turning point for Jackson: “The day he was burned [during the Pepsi commercial shoot] was the day he was introduced to this thing called pain killers. It was all down here. It just takes one little thing to just knock the edge off.” He lamented their shared pacts to avoid such pitfalls: “We used to talk all the time about, ‘Lionel, we’re never going to let those drugs and we’re never going to let that stuff get us like everybody else.’ And finally, when it did, I kept looking at him going, ‘What happened?’ But I knew exactly what happened.”

Richie considers Jackson “a part of my family” and continues to honor his legacy, performing “We Are The World” nightly. “You can’t help but think of Mike,” he shared, adding, “I’m still thinking about him and recovering from his loss.” On the controversial allegations that later surfaced against Jackson, Richie was unequivocal: “Oh, please. Come on. No. I think it’s bogus.”

His reflections paint a portrait of a phenomenal talent and a cherished friend, whose extraordinary gifts ultimately couldn’t shield him from the “treacherous” nature of unparalleled fame.