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Lionel Richie

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9 min read

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4.7

· 1,321 Amazon ratings
reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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Truly by Lionel Richie Review: A Wildly Entertaining, Gratitude-Filled Memoir

Published by HarperOne on September 30, 2025, Truly is the long-awaited memoir of pop legend Lionel Richie — a candid, deeply personal account of his journey from a shy, anxious childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, to global superstardom. Kirkus Reviews calls it "wildly entertaining, utterly charming," and the book lives up to that billing by blending music history, personal revelation, and an infectious spirit of gratitude across its nearly 500 pages.

Front cover featuring Lionel Richie's portrait against a teal background with the title and author name.Truly: An Inspirational Journey Through the Life of a Musical Legend by Lionel Richie front coverTap to enlarge

LuvemBooks Verdict

Best for

Longtime Lionel Richie fans and music biography readers who want a comprehensive, first-person account of five decades in pop music told by someone who was at the centre of it all — especially those drawn to themes of overcoming anxiety, self-doubt, and unlikely success.

Worth it if

You want an entertaining, warmly told life story that doubles as a music-history document — one that moves from a shy, ADHD-affected childhood in Tuskegee through the Commodores, global solo stardom, and every major honour American music can bestow, delivered in a voice critics describe as charming rather than boastful.

Skip if

If you prefer the bruising, unflinching confessional register of harder-edged memoirs, or you're looking for a tightly edited highlights reel rather than a generous 496-page chronicle, Richie's consistently warm and grateful tone may feel too gentle to satisfy.

Kirkus Reviews awards the memoir a starred assessment, calling it "wildly entertaining, utterly charming" and praising Richie's gratitude-infused voice and refreshing lack of braggadocio. The Moving Words similarly lauds Truly for its "heartfelt tone and authenticity," describing it as "a soulful meditation on resilience, creativity, and gratitude" that is "gentle but wise, grounded yet inspired."

“Wildly entertaining, utterly charming — there's an abundance of love and gratitude in this memoir.”

— Kirkus Reviews

“Richie's wide-eyed disbelief about his own success threads through the book as its animating spirit.”

— Kirkus Reviews
Sources: Kirkus Reviews, The Moving Words
4.7from 1,321 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
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Age & Reading Level

Recommended age

Adult

Reading level

Adult

Browse all Adult books

Skip if you want a hard-edged, unflinching confessional memoir that lingers in darkness and conflict.

Trending Now
Movie/TV Adaptation

Truly: An Inspirational Journey Through the Life of by Lionel Richie is Trending

Lionel Richie Featured in Netflix's 'The Greatest Night in Pop,' Now Streaming

Netflix's 'The Greatest Night in Pop' — featuring Lionel Richie alongside Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson — is currently one of the best movies on the platform, putting Richie back in the spotlight and sending readers straight to his memoir, Truly.

If you've been on Netflix lately, you may have caught 'The Greatest Night in Pop,' which is landing on TV Guide's list of the 60 best movies on Netflix right now as of September 2026. The film puts Lionel Richie front and center alongside legends like Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, and it's reminding a lot of people just how central Richie was to some of the biggest musical moments of the 20th century.

That renewed fascination is a perfect on-ramp to Truly, his memoir published by HarperOne in September 2025. The book covers his full story — from growing up shy and anxious in Tuskegee, Alabama, to writing and performing some of the most beloved pop songs ever recorded. If the Netflix film leaves you wanting more of the backstory behind the man, the book delivers it across nearly 500 pages of candid storytelling.

Kirkus Reviews called Truly 'wildly entertaining, utterly charming,' and it holds up to that description. Whether you're a longtime fan or just got introduced to Richie's legacy through the Netflix doc, this is a great moment to pick it up.

Source:
TV Guide
Read more
Updated Sep 9, 2026
In This Review
  • What Works & What Doesn't
  • What the Book Is and What It Covers
  • Richie's Place in Music History and Why the Book Matters
  • The Voice: Self-Deprecation, Gratitude, and Genuine Openness
  • Strengths and What the Book Does Well
  • Who This Memoir Is For and Its Honest Limitations

What Works & What Doesn't

What Works
  • Kirkus Reviews praises it as 'wildly entertaining, utterly charming' — a strong critical endorsement for a memoir of this scope
  • Richie's self-deprecating, wide-eyed voice makes the narrative consistently engaging rather than self-congratulatory
  • Spans a remarkable arc: from an anxiety-ridden, ADHD-affected childhood in Tuskegee through the Commodores, solo stardom, and beyond
  • Includes three eight-page photo inserts, giving readers a visual dimension alongside the personal storytelling
  • Functions simultaneously as a music-history document and a personal inspiration, covering an extraordinary catalogue of hits and accolades
What Doesn't
  • At 496 pages, the memoir's length may feel expansive to readers looking for a tightly edited highlights reel rather than a comprehensive life story
  • Richie's consistently warm, grateful tone — while a genuine strength — means the book rarely dwells in sustained darkness or conflict, which may leave readers seeking harder-edged candor wanting more
Truly is the memoir Lionel Richie's fans have long been waiting for, and its arrival from HarperOne in September 2025 marks a significant moment in pop music biography.

What the Book Is and What It Covers

Box set containing hardcover edition with teal spine and black front cover featuring portrait photograph.
Box set containing hardcover edition with teal spine and black front cover featuring portrait photograph.
Truly opens with a striking set piece: Richie's appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in England, where more than 175,000 people gathered to watch him perform. The memoir frames itself around the question his own astonishment raises — how did any of this happen? From that anchor point, Richie traces the full arc of his life, beginning with his childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, a place he calls his "forever home." He describes himself as a "painfully, awkwardly, horribly shy" boy who grappled with anxiety and undiagnosed ADHD — a detail that gives the book an early emotional grounding and speaks directly to readers who have wrestled with self-doubt. The narrative moves through his years at Tuskegee Institute, where he joined the funk band the Commodores, to his landmark solo career and his later role as a judge on American Idol. The publisher describes the memoir as revisiting "hilarious and harrowing events to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don't matter," and the book includes three eight-page photo inserts alongside its 496 pages of text.
“hilarious and harrowing events to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don't matter”

Richie's Place in Music History and Why the Book Matters

The weight of Richie's career gives Truly an inherent significance that few music memoirs can match. With more than 125 million albums sold worldwide, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, four Grammy Awards, induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2017, and the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress in 2022, Richie's footprint spans not just pop but American cultural history. The Commodores became a sensation in short order, playing residencies at Smalls Paradise in Harlem and opening for the Jackson 5. Richie's departure from the band in 1982 launched a solo run that produced chart-topping singles including "You Are," "All Night Long," and "Hello." That trajectory — from a shy kid in Alabama to a figure who has received virtually every major honor American music can bestow — is the engine of the book's inspirational design.
Front cover featuring Lionel Richie's portrait against a teal background with the title and author name.
Front cover featuring Lionel Richie's portrait against a teal background with the title and author name.

The Voice: Self-Deprecation, Gratitude, and Genuine Openness

What distinguishes Truly from the standard celebrity memoir is the quality of Richie's authorial voice. Kirkus Reviews notes that the book is "infused with gratitude" and that, while readers can sense Richie's awareness of his own talent, "there is nothing in the book that comes off as bragging." The same review observes that he "still seems star-struck" when writing about celebrity friends such as Stevie Wonder and Gregory Peck — a disarming quality that prevents the memoir from tipping into self-mythology. Richie writes about his Commodores hits, including "Easy" and "Three Times a Lady," with "no small amount of gentle self-deprecation." This tone is not mere performance; according to Kirkus, it is consistent enough that the book reads as "a love letter to music and his beloved Tuskegee." The book opens with Richie's own words of wonderment — "Did I dream all of this up? If not, I mean — How in the world did this even happen?" — and that question threads through the entire memoir as its animating spirit.

Strengths and What the Book Does Well

Kirkus Reviews, whose starred assessment describes Truly as "wildly entertaining, utterly charming," points to Richie's refreshing openness as a central achievement. The memoir is designed to function on two levels simultaneously: as a firsthand chronicle of five decades in pop music, and as an inspirational narrative for anyone who has doubted their own potential. The publisher's framing — "deeply candid," covering "turbulence, loss, and near-calamity" alongside triumph — positions it as more than a victory lap. The inclusion of photo inserts adds a documentary layer to the personal storytelling. For music fans, the memoir offers Richie's own account of milestones that shaped an era, told by someone who was at the centre of them.

Who This Memoir Is For and Its Honest Limitations

Truly is an ideal fit for longtime Richie fans, music biography readers, and anyone drawn to stories of unlikely, hard-won success. Readers who enjoy memoir as a vehicle for inspiration — particularly those who connect with themes of overcoming anxiety and self-doubt — will find the book squarely aimed at them. The one genuine caveat worth noting is that Richie's characteristically warm and grateful voice is so consistent throughout that the memoir rarely pauses in extended darkness or uncomfortable self-reckoning; readers who prefer the more bruising confessional register of certain contemporary memoirs may find the overall tone gentler than they hoped. At 496 pages, the book is also comprehensive rather than compressed — a generous experience for the devoted, though a demanding one for the casual reader. Those caveats aside, Kirkus Reviews' verdict — "a fun memoir and a love letter to music" — captures what Truly is designed to be, and by all critical accounts, it delivers exactly that.

Sources & Further Reading

The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.

  1. Cited in this review
  2. 1
    Truly - Lionel Richie (Signed Book)

    premierecollectibles.com

  3. 2
    TRULY | Kirkus Reviews

    kirkusreviews.com

  4. Further reading
  5. 3
    Lionel Richie — author profileHigh-authority source

    Lionel Richie, Wikipedia

  6. 4
    Truly: The Official Inspirational Journey Through the Life of a Musical Legend by Lionel Richie

    malikbooks.com

  7. 5
    Book Review: Truly by Lionel Richie | The Moving Words

    themovingwords.com

  8. 6
    Truly: An Inspirational Journey Through the Life of ... - Spotify

    open.spotify.com

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In The News
Author News

Lionel Richie Hospitalized Mid-Tour as Memoir Truly Lands

June 29, 2026

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