When Lionel Richie joined Frankie Valli for funked-up duet of ‘Grease’

26 August 2025, 14:56

It was a musical that captured the imagination of millions.

By the end of 1978, you must have been living under a rock if you hadn't gone to the pictures to see musical romantic comedy, Grease.

Even if you hadn't taken the trip to the cinemas, there was a chance you would've heard one of the feature's songs over the airwaves.

Numbers like 'Greased Lightning', 'Hopelessly Devoted To You', and 'Summer Nights' shot the film's stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John into orbit.

The 1950s were very much back in vogue, all thanks to the T-Birds' iconic leather jackets and Teddy Boy haircuts. Who can forget the Pink Ladies' suave garments too, of course.

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One star from the 1950s that was also in the public's affections again was none other than honey-voiced crooner Frankie Valli.

Valli took on lead vocals for the film's title track 'Grease' which scored him a significant hit. A year later, teenagers were still understandably obsessed with the film and with Valli's velvet voice.

So, during his appearance on a 1979 episode of late-night variety series The Midnight Special, Valli performed his beloved song.

But he was joined by some very special guests for the rendition: none other than Lionel Richie and The Commodores.

'Grease' was a major hit for Valli, but the song was in fact the handiwork of the Bee Gees' one-of-a-kind singer Barry Gibb.

The band's manager Robert Stigwood wanted to make use of his prized possession's unique talents, but didn't want the Bee Gees to become associated with the musical.

Saturday Night Fever was still riding high in the charts, so Stigwood wanted to keep the band's fortunes seperate.

So he enlisted Frankie Valli to sing the iconic title track, an artist who had scored countless hits with The Four Seasons during the period Grease is set.

In 2013, Valli recalled how the song came his way, revealing: "Barry Gibb called and said, 'I wrote a song. I think it's for you. It's going to be the title song for this motion picture."

"My manager at the time was Allan Carr, who was partners in Grease with Robert Stigwood," he continued.

"He called and said, 'What do you want to do? Do you want to be in the movie? Or sing the title song?' Well, I had already heard the title song, and I loved it."

"I called [celebrated song arranger] Don Costa up and told him to come over right away and hear this song. He said, 'If you don't record this song, you're crazy.'"

"So I said, 'What's the song if I want to be in the movie?' And they said 'Beauty School Dropout.' It was done by Frankie Avalon," Valli added.

"It never became a hit, but he made a lot of money from it being on the soundtrack. But 'Grease' was one of the biggest records I ever had in my career."

It certainly was. Lionel Richie was himself capable of penning a mega hit, but couldn't resist getting involved in a funked-up version of 'Grease' himself.

Grease - Frankie Valli and The Commodores | The Midnight Special

Still a member of The Commodores in 1979, the band were themselves riding on the crest of success from their chart-topping seventh record Midnight Magic.

They'd scored a sixth number one hit with 'Still', following on from the iconic 'Three Times A Lady' the year before.

So, they were obviously in a good mood when the six-piece band took to the stage for The Midnight Special.

Having already performed their hit 'Brick House', The Commodores were convinced to take up a very special performance for their next song.

Also performing that night was Frankie Valli, with The Commodores joking around on stage as though they were about to pull off a one-time jam.

Alas, they launched into 'Grease', albeit a funkier version than we'd heard before.

Trading vocals throughout, the 30-year-old Richie's voice matched perfectly to the song's swaggering pulse.

Valli could hold his own however, given he possessed one of the most remarkable falsetto voices in the music business.

But it was The Commodores' bassist Ronald LaPread who gave the rendition its rhythmic heft when it evolved into a far funkier performance than fans could've expected.

The solo smash hit for Frankie Valli could've easily been one for Richie too. It's a surprise he's never performed it since.