Birth Name: Lionel Brockman Richie
Place of Birth: Tuskegee, Alabama, United States
Date of Birth: June 20, 1949
Ethnicity: African-American, small amounts of English and Scottish
Lionel Richie is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actor. He was previously a member of the band The Commodores.
Lionel is the son of Alberta R. (Foster) and Lionel/Lyonel Brockman Richie. His adopted daughter is fashion designer and television personality Nicole Richie.
Lionel is of mainly African-American descent. One of his great-great-grandfathers, Morgan Brown, was white, of English and Scottish descent.
Lionel’s paternal grandparents were Charles A. Richie (the son of Henry Richie and Georgia Anna) and Ida J. Garfield.
Lionel’s maternal grandparents were Albert Davidson Foster (the son of George Foster and Betsey) and Adelaide M. Brown (the daughter of John Louis Brown and Volenderver Towson). Lionel’s great-grandfather John was the National leader and co-founder of “The Knights of the Wise Men”, a fraternal organization for black men in the post-Civil War period; John was the son of a white slave owner, Morgan Brown, of English and Scottish descent, and of Mariah, who was a slave.
Sources: Genealogies of Lionel Richie – https://www.geni.com
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com
Obituary of Lionel’s maternal great-grandfather, John Louis Brown – http://www.findagrave.com
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