Lionel Richie  Truly is a candid memoir, as he revisits hilarious and harrowing events that seek to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don’t matter. Lionel’s unlikely success stories- from a 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. Lionel’s early childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he grew up on its university campus during the heyday of Civil Rights movement to 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 Olympic performance witnessed by 2 billion around the globe all the way through  to We Are the World and his current multi-generational status as a Judge on American Idol.

He won the Grammy-, Oscar, and the Golden Globe awards for his hits, and his albums has sold over 125 million record proving the power of love to elevate our own lives and our world.

His memoir act as a love letter to music and his beloved Tuskebee, showing an abundance of love and gratitude.

As a member of The Commodore , how being a songwriter healed him and the scandal  that led to the demise of his first marriage. In “Truly” the “Endless Love” singer is finally opening up about the controversy that brought his first marriage to a close nearly forty years ago. His first wife Brenda Harvey-Richie was arrested in June 1988 after she confronted Richie and his Diane Alexander, who would become his second wife, at Alexander’s Beverly Hills apartment in the middle of the night. “What very few people knew was Brenda and I were separated” Richie wrote in his book. He said that “he was hiding “ out at a spot on the beach, wanting to be alone, when he drove into town and stopped by Alexander’s place before he heard “a knock at the door”. “This is not a security-buzz-you-in place not a gated residence, just an apartment that opens to the street”, Richie wrote. “When the door opens, Brenda is standing there. There is a massive confrontation, Diane is in total shock and I’m trying to leave, to draw Brenda away.”

Richie said that the argument got so intense that neighbours called the police, leading to Harvey-Richie’s arrest. “The story became the scandal of my century,” he wrote. “It took on a life of its own. Thankfully, there was no social media.”

The “American Idol” Judge and Harvey-Richie adopted Nicole Richie when she was a toddler while she was dancing on stage at a Prince concert, he said according to page Six

Richie said that he knew her parents who were facing instability and decided to foster Nicole and eventually adopt her, whom he described as “the cutest, most adorable little girl.”

Nicole Richie eventually find fame on reality TV, starring in “Simple Life”, with her then-best friend, Paris Hilton. She would later become an author and fashion designer.

Richie had written songs for his group The Commodores, The Temptations, Kenny Rogers and Enrique Iglesias.  He also co-wrote the chart-topping “We Are the World” with music giant Michael Jackson, whom the Commodores opened for when Jackson was part of The Jackson 5.

Truly by Lionel Richie, William Collins, £12.50, 496 pages