Deeply private R&B star finally opens up with memoir ‘Truly’

When is it time to share your life story? Hello — Hollywood had begged Lionel Richie to share his secrets for years.

“I had been asked to write a book at 40 and said nah. Fifty, nah. Sixty, nah. Sixty-five, well, let me put something down on paper because if I don’t write it, somebody else will. It’s important that you tell your own history,” says the man who has sold over 145 million records. “You are the author of your own story. Only you can tell it.”

The end result for the frequent Vegas headliner is a bestselling, deeply candid memoir called “Truly,” which has been just one part of a thrilling year for the 76-year-old.

There are also his Strip shows, where Richie loves that his audience knows every word to every song. “ ‘Whose face is on the poster outside? Did it say Lionel Richie karaoke? I think it just said Lionel Richie!’ ” he jokes with audiences. He mixes live performances with his eighth season as a judge on ABC’s “American Idol,” airing on Mondays.

And yes, he is still up … all night long.

“I’m still a night owl,” Richie says. “From 1 to 6 in the morning, it’s all in the silence. I can hear things. I can see things. At 5 in the morning, when the world is waking up, I’m about to call it a night.”

Richie, father of three (Nicole, Miles and Sofia), lives in Southern California, where he welcomes visits from his four grandkids who call him “Pop Pop.”

His good life advice:

Let it all out

For the deeply private Richie, sharing stories from his career and personal life was a challenge. “I’ve spent more time saying ‘It’s none of your business’ in my career. And then I write a book and they made me write it all down,” he says. “And then they went and put it out, so everybody could read it.” His goal? “I don’t just want people to read about how I made it,” he adds. “I want them to say, ‘How the hell did he make it?’ ”

An open book

“You write a book, and the person you really discover is you,” he says. “There were many questions I answered, like ‘What is the most exciting thing to ever happen to you early on?’ … I remembered stories like meeting the Commodores in school and bringing them home. My father said, ‘Who the hell are these guys? Are they going to be doctors and lawyers?’ I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ That’s when I knew I was on the right road. They were creative people, and no one understood creative people. I felt that deeply.”

Change of plans

“I thought I might be a priest at one point,” Richie says. “Instead, I met the Commodores. All of a sudden, we were performing in a club, and I didn’t know what a club was, but it was exciting! The greatest thing that happened was some lady in the front row yelled, ‘Sing it baby! Sing it baby!’ And I went back to the people in the church and said, ‘I don’t think I’m going to be a priest anymore.’ ”

Power of performing

“The truth was, I touched someone as a singer,” he shares. “This was the invisible kid, and now they were screaming for me. Even better was leaning down for the first time ever during a Commodores show and kissing a beautiful girl in the front row. The guys in the band made me do it. I was that shy kid, but suddenly I discovered sexy!”

Making amends

In 1977, when he released the song “Brick House” with the Commodores, the music man got some blowback. That was thanks to lyrics including “36-24-36, ow, what a winning hand.” “My grandmother back in Tuskegee did not go to church for three months!” Richie recalls. “I brought shame onto the community. What saved me? I made a nice donation to the church.”

Find inspiration

“A co-producer was late for a meeting one day and when he walked in I said, ‘Hello, is this me you’re looking for?’ ” Richie remembers. “He said, ‘Finish that song. You got something.’ Reluctantly, I wrote the damn song, and he said let’s record it. We recorded the song with lush, lush, lush strings. It was just amazing.” The rub? The producer challenged Richie to do even better, so he wrote “Truly” and “All Night Long.”

‘Possibility of hope’

“My mother was Miss Tuskegee,” Richie says. “One day I asked her why she said yes to marrying my father. She said, ‘He made me laugh.’ … Mom was by the book: Here are the rules. Here is the proper way to say things and do things. My dad said, ‘Your mother is going to teach you how to walk into a room and act like you make some sense. I’m going to teach you how to survive.’ He said, ‘If you don’t have a sense of humor, they’ve got you. … This was in the South, Jim Crow, and being Black. I heard laughter every single day in my house despite the pressure of life. They raised me with the possibility of hope … the possibility of more.”

Cultivate beauty

Richie says he gardens to stay in shape physically and mentally. “I love a good walk in the woods,” he adds. “I’ll cut some of my flowers to bring some beauty home. I do love to garden. When it’s late, I’ll be in Beverly Hills by my house and see that those vines are growing too tall around the stop sign. It might be 2 or 3 in the morning. I’ll just grab my clippers and give things a trim. You gotta keep your neighborhood beautiful.”

The best role

“The beautiful part about having a family is when it keeps growing. My pride is popping out of my chest,” he says of his expanding brood. This includes a new grandson, born to daughter Sofia Richie Grainge. “Everyone is happy, and that’s the part I love the most. I love watching everyone blossom. I’m Pop Pop to the grandkids, which is the best role of my life.”