Lionel Richie – Three Times A Lady

“Three Times a Lady” is a 1978 song by American soul group the Commodores for their album Natural High, written by lead singer Lionel Richie.

This was a breakthrough song for the Commodores and for Lionel Richie as a songwriter. It crossed over to pop, easy listening and even country formats, setting the stage for further Commodores hits and Richie’s massive solo success.

In the UK, this was #1 for five weeks. It was the biggest UK hit for Motown Records.

The Commodores had six members at the time, and they all wrote separately and competed to get songs on their albums. The band knew this track was a hit when Lionel Richie brought it in, and they made it the centerpiece of the album.

This was the first #1 hit Lionel Richie wrote, but far from his last: He wrote songs that were #1 US hits in each of the next seven years, giving him the record for most consecutive #1s by a songwriter who was never a Beatle (Paul McCartney wrote songs that went to #1 1964-1971).

Lionel Richie sang “Three Times A Lady” throughout his solo career, performing it more than any other song from the Commodores era. On his 1984 Cant Slow Down tour, he sang it as a duet with his opening act, Tina Turner, whose comeback album, Private Dancer, was released two weeks after the tour started.