Fact #183743
When:
Short story:
Lionel Richie reaches No1 in the Billboard Top 40 Singles Chart in the USA with Say You, Say Me, from the soundtrack of the film White Nights.
Full article:
Gary LeMel (Head of Music, Columbia Pictures) : We showed him the film and he loved it. He definitely wanted to write a title song. A couple of weeks later I heard back from Ken Kragen (manager, Lionel Richie) who said, ‘Look, he can’t seem to write anything called White Nights but he’s written something that he thinks is one of the better things he’s written and it fits the picture perfectly.
Lionel Richie : I told the movie people, 'You'll never have a hit called White Nights if it's being sung by a black guy' so I wrote Say You Say Me instead.
Gary LeMel (Head of Music, Columbia Pictures) : Lionel was supposed to deliver his solo album to Motown on a certain date. Motown would not allow us to have Say You, Say Me on the soundtrack album but they agreed to release it as a single in time to promote the picture. As things turned out, Lionel didn’t finish his album for almost a year. The movie didn’t suffer, but the soundtrack album would have sold more had Say You, Say Me been on it.
(Source : not known)
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Lionel Richie : I told the movie people, 'You'll never have a hit called White Nights if it's being sung by a black guy' so I wrote Say You Say Me instead.
Gary LeMel (Head of Music, Columbia Pictures) : Lionel was supposed to deliver his solo album to Motown on a certain date. Motown would not allow us to have Say You, Say Me on the soundtrack album but they agreed to release it as a single in time to promote the picture. As things turned out, Lionel didn’t finish his album for almost a year. The movie didn’t suffer, but the soundtrack album would have sold more had Say You, Say Me been on it.
(Source : not known)