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| (L-R): Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan
Credit: Grammys |
Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan are joining “American Idol.”
The two music superstars have officially announced that they will join ABC’s upcoming revival, taking a seat on the judges panel next to the previously announced Katy Perry.
Richie has sold more than 100 million albums and is the recipient of countless awards, including four Grammy Awards®, an Academy Award® and a Golden Globe Award. He has received honorary doctorates from Boston College and Tuskegee University, a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the United Negro College Fund (making him the first recipient to graduate from a UNCF school),and remains an active member of one of the most prestigious fraternities in history, Alpha Phi Alpha.
In addition, Richie won ASCAP’s “Publisher of the Year” and “Lifetime Achievement Award,” as well as 16 American Music Awards, five People’s Choice Awards, A World Music Lifetime Achievement Award, TV Land Icon Award, Germany’s Echo Award for Lifetime Achievement, Hong Kong’s Rojo Award, Goldene Kamera Award, Italy’s San Remo Festival Lifetime Achievement Award, National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Governors Award, and more. He received the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award presented at Harvard University. He’s been inducted to both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and knighted in France receiving the Legionnaire Award. Always giving back, his charity work extends from Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center to UNICEF and The Art of Elysium.
Richie is known for his mega-hits such as “Endless Love,” “Lady,” “Truly,” “All Night Long,” “Penny Lover,” “Stuck on You,” “Hello,” “Say You, Say Me,” “Dancing on the Ceiling,” and one of the most important pop songs in history, “We Are the World,” written with Michael Jackson for USA for Africa. His song catalog also includes his early work with The Commodores, where he developed a groundbreaking style that defied genre categories, penning smashes such as “Three Times a Lady,” “Still” and “Easy.”
Bryan has released five albums since 2007: “I’ll Stay Me”, “Doin’ My Thing”, “Tailgates & Tanlines”, “Crash My Party” and “Kill the Lights”. His last three albums has debuted at the top of the Billboard Country Album charts.
Ryan Seacrest has already been announced that he was returning as host.
“American Idol” is set to premiere in March 2018 on ABC.
The series on FOX launched in 2002 and ran for 15 seasons. The show successfully helped launched the careers of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Phillip Phillips, Chris Daughtry, Adam Lambert and Katharine McPhee to name a few.
To date, “American Idol” has earned 67 Emmy nominations and nine wins, including the Governors Award in 2016, and its talented discoveries have already won 14 Grammys, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award and more.
“American Idol” is produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment, a division of CORE Media Group. Executive producers include FremantleMedia North America’s Trish Kinane and Jennifer Mullin. FremantleMedia International distributes the series worldwide.
