Kenny Drunk Dials Lionel Richie

Kenny Chesney is part of Lionel Richie’s all-star country duets album, “Tuskegee.”  But we had heard that Kenny “drunk dialed” the pop legend last year.  Country Countdown USA’s Lon Helton asked Kenny if the story was true: “It’s been exaggerated.”  Lon asked, So have you heard the tape? Kenny responded:  “In the same breath that I say it’s exaggerated, you have the tape!  OK.  Here’s what I think happened.  Luke Lewis of Universal, Lionel’s record label, was at my house, and he asked me to sing on Lionel’s record.  He and my manager were at my house, having a few bottles of wine, and he brings up the Lionel record again.  I saw the song My Love, so I said if I’m gonna sing one song, that’s it.  So Luke said, ‘I’ll let him know.’  I said, ‘No, I’ll call him now.” And I figured if I’m up, everybody’s up, and I wish he’d answered so this infamous tape wouldn’t be around.  But I sang the song into his recorder, and I shouldn’t have done that.  But I did it.  Anyway, we got into the studio, and it was magic.  My mom was at my house in Tennessee, and I called Lionel and asked if I could bring her to the studio, and they became instant friends.  But I never dreamed that I would get to sing with Lionel Richie.  So it’s been the most fun thing for me.”  At that point, Lon said, That was a great answer, but it didn’t make me forget that we have this tape.  So we played Kenny the tape, and he said “Yeah OK, so I admit that I might be an affectionate drunk!”

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Tags: kenny, lionel

Category: Audio