Latest news with #SayHelloToTheHits
The Irish Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Virgin Media star Katja Mia reveals link to 80s music superstar after ‘legendary' interview on The Six O'Clock Show
LEGENDARY musician Lionel Richie made a brief appearance on The Six O'Clock Show tonight. The music icon is currently in Ireland for his European headline tour Say Hello To The Hits. 2 Katja Mia interviewed Lionel Richie on The Six O'Clock Show tonight Credit: Instagram 2 Katja shared her heart warming link to Lionel with viewers and the music superstar Credit: Instagram travelled up to Belfast to chat with However, before showing her interview, Katja's co-host Brian Dowling gushed: "I actually can't believe you got to meet Lionel Richie in the flesh. What was he actually like in person?" Katja then revealed to her co-host that she was able to have an easy start to her chat as she had a sweet link to the music star. She explained: "He was so genuine, came in smiling, but I told him my brother was named after him and the rest was history." read more on Katja Mia Lionel and Katja weren't the only ones with a connection as the singer expressed his love of Irish crowds at his concerts. He said: "Everyone is a character. Thank God everyone has decided they want to become a singer, because when they come to the show and sing louder than anybody I ever seen in my life. "I think they go to the pub first before they come to the show to then after the show, go to the pub." The 75-year-old explained that he and his touring band take a lot of joy from the laid back nature of performing for an Irish audience. Most read in News TV He explained: "There's a casual, 'We don't care', approach to Ireland. Like if we hit the right note, we are fine. And if we don't hit the right note... we're fine. "It's just loud strong and wrong, it's just great. And they own it, how they can possibly be that happy throughout a whole show... I just don't know." Katja Mia left 'shaking' after creepy gym experience Ahead of her big interview with the star, Katja The 29-year-old wrote: "What the f*** is my life, I'm about to interview Lionel Richie." Sharing a short clip of herself and the music producer hitting it off, Katja said: "What a legend. "I told him my brother was named after him and the rest was history lads." THE ONLY ONE Katja then shared a series of snaps of her looking absolutely thrilled beside Lionel in the indoor stadium. The influencer stunned in a pair of stylish black leather-look jeans, an oversized denim jacket and a pair of black boots. While Lionel looked dapper in khaki green cargo trousers, a grey bomber jacket and a black t-shirt. Katja captioned her post: "Lionel, my new bestie @lionelrichie!!! Interview coming up on The Six O'Clock Show tomorrow."
BBC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Lionel Richie: Singer recalls 'special' 2001 Belfast show
Music superstar Lionel Richie has fond memories of his first concert in Belfast back in 2001 - a performance he recalls with great affection, during what he describes as a "special time" for Northern Ireland."I remember those shows so clearly because they were saying: 'Security, we have security,'" he told BBC News NI."And I kept saying, 'You don't need security — just play the songs and the crowd will act exactly like a crowd's supposed to act.' And we didn't have one problem."I look back on that now as being a very special time, especially for the country." 'The whole settling of everything' The multi-award winning performer kicks off his Say Hello to the Hits UK and European tour at the SSE Arena in Belfast on Saturday."I remember coming in and everyone was saying you're touring right in the middle of the whole settling of everything."The crowds were amazing."The set on Saturday will include some of his best-known songs, including massive hits like Hello, Dancing on the Ceiling and All Night Richie has spent most of the week in Belfast, rehearsing for the tour which opens in the that meant he didn't have time to see much of Northern Ireland yet. "I've seen the greatest places to eat in life, but not a lot of travelling around," Richie said."Not like I used to," he US singer-songwriter said he really doesn't have a lot of down time in between final preparations for the tour. "This time around we're rehearsing, so it's got to be focused on getting those songs in gear, switching things around so I haven't seen that much this trip," he said. But he said that picking a set-list of only some hits from his long career had been "difficult.""Every place has its specials, so we rehearse a lot of the songs," he said."And then as time goes on, we'll switch them around, but it's pretty amazing how the crowd knows every word to every song, so I don't have to worry about too much!" Lionel Richie began his career with the Commodores in the 1970s, and he said songwriting and performing had taken a lot of work."I had to develop my attitude and my skill, and if you really want the truth, my confidence," he said."I did not know I was a writer, [and] standing around tons of writers all day long with Motown, it's intimidating."It's daunting and you don't really think about it until the other end of it, when you think: 'Holy crap, I went through all that stuff and survived it.'"Most artists get halfway through, and it dissolves."Lionel Richie has been tracing his own history to write his memoirs, which are due to be published later in 2025."For me to be standing here 40, 50 years later is pretty amazing so I should have named the book 'You're not going to believe this,'" he said. Say You, Say Me — Not some machine Richie, however, said he has concerns about the impact that artificial intelligence (AI) is having on the music stars including Dua Lipa and Sir Elton John have recently called on the UK government to update copyright laws in a way that protects them from artificial intelligence (AI).Lionel Richie said he was "not a fan of AI when it comes down to artists"."It's something very beautiful about messing up right in the middle of the show, or falling off the stage right in the middle of the show," he said."Nothing's perfect - it's real, it's happening, the flaws and all."AI may clean it up too much to the point that we don't have to be here anymore."Richie said the "emotional connection" is the real connectivity "between the audience, the artist, the music". "I like the idea of writing a song and it makes someone cry...I like writing a song and it makes someone laugh, and then they bring back the memories."I don't want it to be sterile, I want it to be something meaningful."The Hello to the Hits tour starts in Belfast at the SSE Arena on Saturday.
