Lionel Richie Presented With Leather Aviator Jacket In ‘American Idol’ Hometown Visit

Lionel Richie shocked fans more than a decade ago when the R&B legend recorded an entire album of duets with country singers. Many fans may not have known that the South is in Richie’s blood. The “Endless Love” singer was born and raised in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Richie grew up steeped in Southern history, quite literally. His family lived across the street from Tuskegee University, in a home gifted to his grandparents by none other than Booker T. Washington. Sunday’s (March 17) episode of American Idol showed the beloved judge returning to his roots after 40 years away.

Lionel Richie Returns To Tuskegee

“I was born and raised with the Tuskegee Airmen,” Richie said during a clip of Sunday’s episode.

Prior to World War II, Black Americans could not become pilots in the military, However, the US Army Air Corps created an experimental training program for Black aviators – later referred to as the Tuskegee Airmen – at Alabama’s Tuskegee Army Airfield. The Tuskegee Airmen became the first group of Black Air Force pilots who fought in World War II.

In the clip, Richie and fellow judges Luke Bryan and Katy Perry are presented with their own leather aviator jackets.

“Here you go, Mr. Richie,” a young girl says cheerfully, handing the GRAMMY winner his gift.

The trio even dropped by Tuskegee University, where Richie enrolled in 1967 on a tennis scholarship. He was a member of the school’s marching band, the Marching Crimson Pipers, before graduating in 1974 with his economics degree.

See Where Lionel Richie Got His Start

Despite considering his hometown “about as far away from music as you can possibly think of,” it was in Tuskegee that Richie’s storied career truly began.

During college, he met the men who would become his fellow members of The Commodores. The ensemble spent weekends and holidays performing around Alabama and in neighboring Mississippi and Louisiana.

The Tuskegee visit was part of a season 22 storyline that brings all the judges back to their roots. Bryan is a native of Leesburg, Georgia, while Perry grew up in Santa Barbara, California.

[RELATED: Watch American Idol’s Luke Bryan Take Katy Perry & Lionel Richie on an Adventure Around His Hometown]

During his October visit, Richie had an emotional reunion with his first teacher, Dr. Benjamin  Ace Outland, on the Tuskegee University campus.

“I’m getting teary-eyed because this is the closest thing to my mother,” Richie told Action 8 News. “This man and my mother went to elementary school where I came from, right down the street.”

Featured image by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Netflix