Lionel Richie Hasn't Had a Hit in More Than Five Years

To remodel the business side of his act Richie hired a notable manager, Freddy DeMann, a target of media curiosity in his own right after Madonna named him factotum of her infant media empire. DeMann, who wouldn't speak about Richie, helped him pace his step-by-step reentry into the music business and negotiated a major upcoming change: Richie will soon leave Motown Records, his longtime home and one of the last remaining independent labels, for an all-but-signed, multimillion-dollar deal with PolyGram, the international giant that distributes Motown's product. Motown's president, Jheryl Busby, says he even offered Richie a piece of the company if he'd stay. But Richie — who, smooth as any congressman, evades comment by praising both sides — may have left for a simple strategic reason: Motown got him hot on R&B radio, but PolyGram's Mercury label can relight his fire in the mainstream pop world as well.

So a familiar face reenlists in the war for pop stardom. And yes, Richie does sound like a kid in a playpen. He chortles over anyone's surprise that ''Do It to Me'' has sexy lyrics. ''Hey,'' he says, gleefully, ''with the Commodores we wrote 'Brick House' and '34-24-36.' I came from a bar band!''

But if he's rash enough to rouse his bar band spunk, maybe he'll try something else: Maybe he'll write songs about the frightened kid he used to bury inside himself. That's his deepest truth — and he just might forge it into an album more heartfelt than anything he ever recorded before.