Lionel Richie checked himself into a St. Louis hospital for testing after his August 29, 2026, concert at the Muny, and the 77-year-old singer wound up in intensive care. He was discharged on September 2 and flew home to Los Angeles, where, according to people close to him, he has been resting and “doing great.” His representatives have not put out a statement.
Over the three days he was there, doctors ran cardiac testing and also looked into possible dehydration.
As of September 8, the check-in was being described as precautionary: Richie admitted himself as a precaution on August 29, following the Muny concert, and was then placed in intensive care. The hospitalization has, for the moment, taken the veteran performer off the road.
Inside the Muny Show
For most of the evening at the theater formally known as the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre in Forest Park, the night looked like any other Lionel Richie concert. Video from that night suggests he was in fine voice. Witnesses, though, said he was laboring by the show’s closing stretch, and rather than stand for the last song, “All Night Long,” he asked his crew to bring out a chair. Clips circulating online show him seated in the middle of the stage as he sang “All Night Long (All Night),” his 1983 smash. Electrolyte drinks stayed within reach all evening, and he kept sipping at them. “I’m telling you, this stuff is nasty — but it works,” he told the crowd.
Richie laid the situation out for the audience himself. “Some things have been happening on this tour that kind of shook me up a little bit, because I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on,” Richie told the crowd. “I went back to the doctor, and he said, ‘You are suffering from dehydration.’”
June’s Scare in St. Paul
Twice this summer, a Richie performance has ended with a hospital trip. The first came June 24 at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota — the opening show of his joint “Sing a Song All Night Long tour” with Earth, Wind & Fire — where he grew ill onstage and was hurried off for treatment. He told that audience he was feeling dizzy and off before ending the night early, and paramedics met him backstage and carried him to a hospital in an ambulance.
Inside the arena, events were confusing enough that fans could not tell what was happening. Roughly 55 minutes into the set, Richie called an intermission nobody was expecting and explained that dizziness had already forced him into a seat earlier in the evening, during “Dancing on the Ceiling.”
“When you’re feeling dizzy, sit your ass down,” Richie said onstage.
Roughly 40 minutes later, his saxophonist, Dino Soldo, stepped out to face the audience. “Unfortunately, Lionel is not feeling well,” Soldo said. “He won’t be able to continue.”
Richie postponed his next two concerts, both dates on his ongoing tour with Earth, Wind & Fire. He was back onstage June 30 in Pittsburgh and got through the remainder of the run without further trouble. Drummer John Paris of Earth, Wind & Fire suffered a cardiac emergency on August 7, hours before the band was due to play San Francisco, and that unrelated episode knocked another date off the schedule.
St. Louis was a standalone solo booking and the Muny’s season finale, dropped into a gap in the Earth, Wind & Fire tour rather than scheduled after it.
From Tuskegee to the Rock Hall
Born Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. in Tuskegee, Alabama, he first made his name with the Commodores, the Motown funk and soul band from his hometown, serving as songwriter, co-lead singer and saxophonist. His vocals turn up on “Easy,” “Lady (You Bring Me Up)” and “Three Times a Lady.” He left the group in 1982, and his solo career delivered “All Night Long,” “Stuck on You” and “Hello.” Diana Ross joined him on his biggest seller, “Endless Love,” cut for the soundtrack of the movie that shares its title; the Billboard Hot 100 kept the song at No. 1 for nine weeks in 1981. Induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame came in 2022, and ABC has counted him as one of the hosts of “American Idol” since the network revived the series in 2018. He has three children and four grandchildren.
What Comes Next on the Calendar
More work is waiting. If Richie gets a clean bill of health, he and Earth, Wind & Fire will regroup for three makeup shows. San Francisco comes first on September 26, Chicago follows on September 30 and Columbus closes the set on October 2. After that, Richie heads into a residency at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas, with shows booked in October and November.