Sold-out Covelli crowd found Richie 'Easy' on ears

By AMANDA TONOLI

atonoli@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Lights dimmed, selfies stopped and silence ensued as the 1980s R&B legend Lionel Richie was about to begin rocking the stage with “Running with the Night” Saturday evening.

“Ed [Muransky] said, ‘I’m going to be bringing a few of my friends to see you tonight,’ and who the hell would’ve thought all these people would be here,” Richie said.

Ed Muransky, the CEO at the Surgical Hospital at Southwoods and president of The Lake Club, teamed up with Eric Ryan, executive director of the Covelli Centre, to bring Richie to the Covelli Centre to celebrate 20 years of care to the community from Southwoods facilities.

“We wanted to give back a little bit,” Muransky said in a previous Vindicator story.

The sold-out arena of people from their 20s to their 80s filled the room with screams, chants and claps in response.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for residents of the Valley to enjoy a national recording artist,” said Samantha Villella, The Lake Club public relations officer.

The show took many back to the 1980s era, with couples slow-dancing in the aisles to “Easy” – a song made famous when Richie was lead singer in The Commodores, and which Richie performed as fans held up lit cell phone screens, swaying from side to side.

Tracy Bailey of Youngstown said she appreciated being able to see an artist she listened to when she was younger, rather than have to listen to the “young stuff.”

“We need more concerts like these,” said Tracy’s husband Alonzo Bailey. “I’m old-school, and we need more old-school concerts.”

Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti said she was excited for a concert of music from her era.

She said from KISS to Elton John and now to Lionel Richie, Ryan and Youngstown Mayor John McNally “do an excellent job of bringing entertainment into and right through the city of Youngstown.”

“[The Covelli Centre] is truly the jewel of Mahoning valley,” she said.

Richie said he was in Youngstown once before with The Commodores and he remembers the city as a place where his grandmother told him, “Now don’t make a fool of yourself there – you hear?”

“And here I am, about 100 years later, and you people are calling me Mr. Richie – what?!” Richie laughed.

Richie’s climb to the top resulted in selling more than 100 million albums worldwide and earning four Grammy awards.

Muransky, like Richie, also has a history from no medical experience to heading what Press Ganey Associates has rated the No. 1 hospital for inpatient experience in Ohio.

Press Ganey measures patient experience and performance for health care organizations, according to the Press Ganey website.