While Harlem’s Summer of Soul, Woodstock and the Manson murders gripped the country, the self-doubting 20-year-old Lionel ‘Skeet’ Richie embraced the songwriting chops and suspended loneliness of Jimmy Webb’s classic. Soon, The Commodores were opening for the Jackson 5 and “Lion-nel” was befriended by the 12-year-old Michael. He’s often been told he’s too black for pop and too white for black radio. The first recorded Lionel Richie composition There’s A Song in my Heart was the B-side for The Commodores’ third single, Are You Happy, in April 1973. Lionel wanted to send the waltz to Frank Sinatra but it became The Commodores’ first Number 1 pop, R&B and Country in 1978.