Lionel Richie claims "crooks" tried to take advantage of him and Michael Jackson.

The 76-year-old musician was close friends with the late King of Pop - who died in 2009 at the age of 50 - and he revealed how sorry he felt for the former child star that he never got to experience a normal life.

He told The Guardian newspaper: "I watched him struggle. Before I got into the fame business, at least I had my friends from school and college. I had some experiences. I had the opportunity to hang out at a football game. I knew what a date was. I'd been jilted. He missed it all. He. Missed. It. All. I was there with him when he was going to that studio every day after school and he'd pull in like a machine at 3pm and stay there till six. Just imagine a kid like that and all you hear is, 'Watch out the girls are coming! You can't trust her, you can't trust them!' I saw it."

Lionel - who appointed Jackson as godfather to his daughter Nicole - claimed many people tried to take advantage of Michael but insisted he was in no position to offer advice.

He explained: "No. When you're in the war and you're both ducking bullets it's hard to give advice to the other soldier. The same crooks that were trying to take advantage of him were coming to take advantage of me."

Lionel also shared that the best advice he ever got was from legendary musician Sammy Davis Jr.

He said that Sammy told him: "Your answer to everything they offer you is no."

When Richie asked why, Davis Jr said, "Because I said yes. And I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made."

Richie explained: "That alone saved me a hundred years of misery."