Probably not too many people in Tuskeegee, Ala., thought one of their own would go on to sell 60 million albums, win five Grammys, log 22 Top Ten singles (including nine No. 1's), and garner Oscars, Golden Globes, People's Choice Awards, American Music Awards, and more--but Lionel Richie [ tickets ] is used to being sold short.

He shouldn't have left the Commodores. He was certifiable when he wrote a little ditty called "Three Times A Lady" during the disco era. "They said I was out of my mind," Richie said with a laugh. "I'll never forget a radio programmer looked me right in the eye and said, 'You are either the craziest man who ever lived, or the bravest, for releasing this song now.'"

Richie seventh studio album, "Renaissance" (Island/Def Jam)--released earlier this year--features collaborations with renowned producers Rodney Jerkins (Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston) and Brian Rawling (Cher, Enrique Iglesias), as well as the Backstreet Boys on the song "Cinderella." Earlier this year the first leg of his tour in support of the album saw him opening for fellow hit-maker Tina Turner, and he will play concert dates in Florida and Mexico this month.

Richie spoke with liveDaily about "Renaissance," songwriting, and his mental health.

LiveDaily: You have three shows coming up in Florida. Are these are one-off shows, or is there a tour in the offing?

Lionel Richie: They asked me, "OK, where do you want to wake it up?" And I said, "Let's do it warm and safe. Florida." I figured Florida was a good choice because my crowd is there, everything is there.

And then off to Mexico.

Come on. That's the other secret to Lionel Richie. "All Night Long," "Running With The Night," and "Hello," for whatever reason on the planet, made me a part of the Latino family instantly. The music is huge there. But I've never played Mexico before.

Really?

Never in my entire career.

Why?

I don't know, I've been invited several times. I decided to just do it. So before we launch anything across America, we're going to go play in Mexico City and then we'll see where all this leads. I wanted to kind of take it gradually because I wasn't sure what was happening with our national situation all of a sudden.

Have your thoughts on touring changed since the events of September 11th?

It's a two-fold thing for me. Exactly when people are in turmoil is the time that the entertainment business has always been at its best. Because people don't want to be reminded every day that they are under siege, or that they're not having a great time of life. Sometimes the movie business or the entertainment business would normally thrive because of that time. But because it's happening in America, it's a strange kind of a setting. Normally it happens outside of our borders. And that's why I said, in this case, "Let's see how it feels. If it feels good, then we'll continue." We're just going to take it slow.

I would love to do something to come face to face with the people. You can do the benefits all day long, or you can actually come to a city and kind of revitalize the energy of the city. I think there are people looking for a way of expressing themselves. This might be a way to do it. My contribution, in a very small way.

I read a quote about your new album "Renaissance" where you said you were "going for the surprise rather than the sure thing." What did you mean by that?

The sure thing, for me, was, "Lionel, where's your ballad?" Lionel Richie, love song, OK, thank you very much, good-bye. And all of a sudden I realized that, in my career, what has made my career has always been the surprises. In fact, the phrase that I look forward to hearing whenever I write a song is ...

Are you nuts?

Exactly. "Are you crazy? Are you out of your mind?" That is the signal that lets me know that I'm in the right direction. [laughs] Well, instead of sitting down to say, "I'm going to write an album like this," I sit down and write an album just as if I'm writing, [for instance], a Journey song. "Running With The Night" was my Journey song.

"Three Times A Lady" was supposed to be for Sinatra. It wasn't supposed to be for the Commodores. I was writing for someone else. "Sail On" and "Stuck On You," those were supposed to be for country artists, not Lionel Richie. The interesting part about it is, throughout my career, whenever I walk in a room, if someone says to me, "What in the hell are you doing?," that ends up being a hit record for me, because people didn't expect it.

When I was doing this record, and we finished [the first single] "Angel," and a guy walked in the room and said, "Are you nuts? Lionel Richie and a dance-club song--what are you thinking?" And I thought for a minute, "I've finally come full circle." The Commodores started out as a club band, and "Machine Gun" was the club song. So interestingly enough, when he said that, I said, "Put that record out right now. That's the first single."

I mean, "All Night Long" ... I can't tell you how many people tried to stop me from putting that record out. Because they thought I'd be the laughing stock of the industry, trying to be a Calypso singer. And history tells us what happened. "Three Times A Lady" was a disaster according to some of the people at Motown, because it's a waltz. "We can't get a waltz to play on R&B radio." Number one record.

I'm sure someone must have questioned your mental health with the Backstreet Boys collaboration on "Cinderella?"

Oh, of course. That came together in an interesting way. I was in Bremen, Germany, playing a stadium, and the Backstreet Boys were supposed to come in the next night, to the same stadium. They just happened to be in town one day early, and they came by to see me.

Naturally, they walked in the door and said, you know, "We're big fans." And then they said, "In fact our favorite song is 'Easy.' We do it in our show. If it's OK with you, can we come onstage and sing it with you?" Over. They walked onstage, the crowd went crazy. Backstreet Boys and Lionel Richie? Sure looked believable to me. The crowd went nuts and I realized, "What do I have in my audience? Fourteen and 15 year-olds? What are they doing there?" I don't know. [laughs]

But you're not going to argue, though.

I am not going to argue.