Forty years after Hello was released as a single, we rate the best of Richie’s work – solo and with Commodores, from Sly Stone-influenced funk to epic pop ballads
Bizarre as it now seems, the most obvious influence on Richie’s early songs for Commodores was Sly Stone. You can hear the inspiration from the Family Stone in 1974’s There’s a Song in My Heart, while the next year’s charming Let’s Do It Right carries a hint of Everybody Is a Star in its DNA.