Penny Lover

Album: Can't Slow Down (1983)
Charted: 18 8
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this romantic ballad, Richie reminisces about how he met his lover and hopes she'll never leave him. It was co-written by his then-wife Brenda Harvey-Richie, making the single his first solo #1 (on the Adult Contemporary chart) to credit a co-writer.
  • The music video, helmed by "Hello" director Bob Giraldi, casts Richie as a nightclub owner who recalls his affair with a cocktail waitress named Penny, who ended up leaving him for her domineering boyfriend.
  • This also peaked at #8 on the R&B chart.
  • The Band Perry sang a country version of this in 2012 for the televised concert ACM Presents: Lionel Richie and Friends In Concert.
  • This was used in the 1985 Rob Reiner movie The Sure Thing, starring John Cusack.

Comments: 2

  • Mickey from NebraskaMany of the 80’s songs transport me, in my head, back to different times of my life. “Penny Lover” takes me to a lost love, one I thought I’d marry. But I thought incorrectly.
  • Claudette from Clearwater FloridaI plan on reading the words to this song tot he love of you life. The day I become his wife.
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