Lionel Richie checked himself into a St. Louis hospital as a precaution after his August 29, 2026, concert at the Muny, and the 77-year-old singer was then admitted to intensive care. Doctors released him on September 2, and he flew home to Los Angeles, where people close to him say he has been resting and is “doing great.” His representatives have issued no statement.
During the three-day stay, doctors ran cardiac tests after concerns were raised about the singer’s health following the St. Louis performance, and they also looked into possible dehydration. A report published September 8 confirmed that Richie had been discharged and was recovering at home.
What the Crowd Saw at the Muny
For most of the evening the show, staged in Forest Park at the venue formally called the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre, looked like any other Lionel Richie concert, and footage from the night suggests his voice was in fine shape. Witnesses, though, described him laboring through the last stretch of the set, and he asked the crew to bring out a chair rather than stand through the closer, “All Night Long.” Clips circulating online show him perched on that chair at center stage as he sang “All Night Long (All Night),” his 1983 smash. Electrolyte drinks sat within reach all night, and he kept sipping. “I’m telling you, this stuff is nasty — but it works,” he told the crowd.
Richie also explained himself to the audience. “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.’”
A Scare in St. Paul in June
That was the second time this summer that a Richie performance ended with a trip to the hospital. He fell ill onstage on June 24 at the Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota — the first show of his joint “Sing a Song All Night Long tour” with Earth, Wind & Fire — and was hurried off for treatment. He told that audience he felt dizzy and off, cut the night short, and was met backstage by paramedics, who took him to a hospital in an ambulance.
Inside the arena, the sequence was strange enough that fans could not work out what was happening. Roughly 55 minutes into the set, Richie called an intermission nobody had expected, telling the crowd that a bout of 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 after he called for that break, his saxophonist, Dino Soldo, walked 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 part of the joint run with Earth, Wind & Fire. He was back onstage June 30 in Pittsburgh and played out the rest of the dates without further trouble. One other date came off the calendar for an unrelated reason: John Paris, the Earth, Wind & Fire drummer, had a cardiac emergency on August 7, before a San Francisco show.
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
Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, and his first success came with the Commodores, the Motown funk and soul band from his hometown, where he worked as a songwriter, co-lead singer and saxophonist. His voice is on “Easy,” “Lady (You Bring Me Up)” and “Three Times a Lady.” He left the band in 1982 for a solo career that turned out “All Night Long,” “Stuck on You” and “Hello.” His biggest seller was “Endless Love,” which he cut with Diana Ross for the soundtrack of the movie that shares its title; it held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for nine weeks in 1981. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame welcomed him in 2022, and he has been one of the hosts of “American Idol” ever since ABC revived the series in 2018. He is a father of three and a grandfather of four.
What’s Ahead on the Calendar
More work is waiting. Should Richie get a clean bill of health, he and Earth, Wind & Fire will reunite for the rescheduled dates: San Francisco on September 26, Chicago on September 30 and Columbus on October 2. A residency at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas follows, with shows booked in October and November.
