plus, the tiger woods' tell-all. he's back to his winning ways. he's not the only one talking. tonight my primetime exclusive with his former coach about the firestorm surrounding his new book. this is "piers morgan tonight." good evening. the shooting death of trayvon martin has touched a nerve across america. protests, the anger, the questions only growing. trayvon was killed by george zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in florida. he's not talking but lots of people are. this week, they're talking to me. i spoke to zimmerman's brother, robert, in a primetime exclusive. here's what he said about the explosive case. what did george tell you trayvon martin allegedly did to him? >> what has come out that i can talk about today is that trayvon martin somehow snuck up on him and according to mr. crump, the attorney, we don't know if this is verifiable information, but he was on the phone with his girlfriend. i don't know if that's a police source, but i know his attorney at least holds up the girlfriend as a source and says trayvon told him, no, i'm not running. i'm going to walk real slow. and trayvon went up to george and said the first thing to george. there's some discussion about did he say do you have a problem? do you have a problem? are you following me? why are you following me? >> what did george tell you he said? >> one of those things. do you have a problem with me? following me, why are you following me? something like that. my brother drew back to grab his phone in retreat to call 911 and say, this person who i lost sight of and was not pursuing has now confronted me. that's what he did. he never got to make that call because he was attacked by mr. martin. >> that, of course, is just one side of this tragedy. there's also trayvon's family. can't imagine what they're going through now. i did speak a few days ago to trayvon's mother and father and asked them what they would say to george zimmerman. tracy, if you had the chance to speak to george zimmerman right now, what would you say to him? >> i'd ask him why did he, in fact, pick out my son. what was going through his mind that night. do he realize he's destroyed an innocent child's life. my son had a future. my son was not one of these thugs in the night. he was loved. i just want -- i would just ask him why did he, in fact, take my son's life. and how does he feel about taking my son's life. >> sybrina, many believe that you are suffering perhaps even more now since losing your son by the attempt by some people to assassinate his character, to bring up all this stuff about his behavior at school and so on which portrays him in a very damaging light. what do you say to that? >> it bothers me as a mother to hear all of those negative things about my son. i knew trayvon. i lived with trayvon. i know what he's capable of doing. and i know what he's capable of not doing. and it just hurts just to know that people are trying to damage his name. they murdered him. they're trying to murder his reputation. and i've said that before. and it's just painful to me as a mother. >> as i said, many people have very strong opinions about what happened to trayvon and why. including my guest, lionel richie. he's a pop icon. sold more than 100 million albums. his latest a country record. he's also a father. we covered a lot of ground in a wide ranging interview. i began by asking him about trayvon. as you'll hear, he has some very important things to say about it. before we come on to your remarkable twist now, the country music, and your incredible career, i just wanted to get your reaction to the interview i just conducted with trayvon martin's parents. what did you make of what they were saying? >> you know, i'm a parent. how i approach this is just everyone take the race card out for a moment. if you received a phone call saying your child was shot and killed because he looked suspicious, armed with a cell phone and the other guy has a gun, the next thing is, did he have any kind of markings on him that said security? so your kid thinks someone's chasing him. this is just how i feel. and then, you can't really get an explanation as to what really happened. don't put a color on that. just imagine. now the outrage that's happening is if this were just a one off situation, it would be wonderful. you know? it would be something we could investigate. this is a common occurrence in the black community. and so, i understand now the outrage of trying to find out, it looks so obvious what it is. we just can't get it -- we can't get them to say that. >> there were several issues at play here. aren't there? one is the apparent race issue which i think may be slightly miscued way of approaching this. >> right. >> because, you know, george zimmerman is not a white guy. it's not a white man killing a black man. in the conventional sort of incident that sparked this outrage before that doesn't quite work. what you had is an extraordinary law in florida. stand your ground. which entitles anybody if they feel their life's in danger to shoot somebody. >> yeah. but do they have a stalking law? in other words, what i'm saying to you, the kid felt, i'm sure, i don't know who this guy is following. we don't know if he identified himself as a security guard. we don't know this. and so, i can only say that if it were my son, i would be -- i would be terrified to think of what he went through. you know? i don't know the circumstance. we don't know. it's just one of those situations where every parent in america, in the world, would say what happened? >> it's really important, it seems to me, that you have to allow the legal process to take its course. >> i know. >> george zimmerman may well have been attacked. we just don't know. the video, it doesn't help his cause. because people are watching that video tonight as i did and as you did, i'm sure, and saying, where are these injuries that caused him to believe he was being -- apparently his nose broken, his head thrown on the floor. it doesn't look like that has happened. >> is it attacked or is it fighting for his life? we can skew it the other way. if someone pulls out a gun and you're not sure whether you're being mugged or whether you're being apprehended, we don't know this. so i'm sure without the proper, you know, investigation, we will never really know what those few seconds were. >> doesn't the nature of stand your ground as a law just frighten you as an american? doesn't it make you think this can't be right, this law? because it's so vague. the idea that george zimmerman wasn't even arrested on the night is what appalls people. they're like, well, he shot a guy who's unarmed. even if they had a fight, that doesn't give you the right to pull out a gun and shoot him in the street, does it? >> we're bringing back the wild west. in other words, we have enough going on right now to where fear, people don't trust, and all of a sudden now you put on top of that stand your ground. so you're saying in case you feel any fear at all, you can stand your ground and shoot someone else. i mean, if you have a gun, you can justifiably shoot someone and say i was feeling fear. >> there are gang leaders now, apparently, who are using this as a legal excuse to get off killing other gang members. this is ridiculous. >> it's ridiculous. i think what we have to do is take nine steps back and go back to human. we have to use common sense here, piers. i'm telling you as a parent you've got to look at this. i wouldn't want my kid on the street anymore. what is suspicious? what classification? is that racial profiling? suspicious. what does that really mean? every kid i know in the world has a hoodie. you know? i mean, i go -- we walk in beverly hills every day. excuse me. every kid in beverly hills has a hoodie. are they going to be deemed suspicious? what is that going to really mean for this world that we live in? of course, in florida, i think that law should be thrown out without a shadow of a doubt. >> you grew up in the south. >> yeah. >> you have spoken before that your parents protected you from racism. tell me about that. >> it was interesting. i was born and raised on tuskegee university or tuskegee institute campus. it's exactly 38 miles away from the lap of the confederacy. montgomery, alabama. but if the klan marched any night, they would put us to bed early. so we didn't really know what that felt like. at least in my generation. you know, when you have people like the tuskegee airmen that were brought up on -- that's where they were stationed. that's where they were from. phds, doctors, lawyers. it was a different world. and so, they trained us basically that everything was available to you. i did not know that we had a problem with where can we go to get a job? everything was available. everybody was a doctor, a lawyer. they were all there. because segregation made tuskegee so powerful. and every other university, morehouse, fisk. they were all little meccas of very intelligent people because segregation was in, no jobs were available outside of those little townships. >> when was the first time you realized there was racism? in america. >> i experienced it for the first time with the commodores. the first time i knew about it was certainly on the march on washington. i was old enough now to understand that. the march on montgomery. because we had a college student that was living with us that actually went to that. i was too young to participate. but he would come back and tell me all about it. of course, when you see these huge policemen with the dogs and the spray and the horses and everyone is there, you know, unarmed, you know, and it was quite -- it was impactful to me. i remember as a kid i kept thinking, where are we going with this? then i think when it really hit home for me was i had a chance to hear malcolm x speak on the campus. he dealt with the issue in a very philosophical way. i thought it was brilliant. he said, don't you think times are getting better? and the answer was, if you stick a knife in a man's side and you pull it out halfway, is it better? only until you pull the knife all the way out and the wound heals is it better. i kept that as my mantra throughout my growing up that all we are doing right now is rehashing exactly what my mom and dad went through, my mom and dad's parents went through. and now here we are in the next, next, next generation talking about the same issues of insensitivity, racial profiling. it's the same. it's the same identical story, just a new generation. >> let's take a break. i want to come back and talk a bit more about this. i want to see whether you think america is more or less racist since it's got its first black president. and also, talk about whitney houston, your great friend who tragically died recently. and the song "hello." let's get to "hello" at some point. 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"lady." "endless love" right behind that. the doors blew off with "all night long," "hello," and all that. >> you've got five minutes left to live, you can sing one of those songs before you die, which one is it? i know which one it would be for me. >> really? okay. mine would probably be -- i would want to go out in a happy mood. "hello" would not be it. "all night long." if i had to reflect from the commodore side, it would be "easy." or "all night long." >> mine would be "penny lover." >> kenny chesney's favorite song is "penny lover." >> there are lots of "penny lovers" out there. >> i would not equate "penny lover." i rest my case. >> when i heard that song, the whole body started to shake. bump and grind. >> one of the disk jockeys said this is lionel's cheap song. penny. >> what is the secret of singing love music? >> you know what happens? i lucked out and found a topic that will never, ever go out of style. love. the entire world is looking for three corny words. "i love you." >> it's true. >> believe me, in 35, 40 years of writing i have tried to find another way. they don't want to hear, i like you. let's hang out. let's shack up just for the night. doesn't work like that. i love you is forever. so if you go, i love you, i want you, i need you forever, you have just sold a record. the next thing is that they're trying to find guys who are -- what's that word now? compassionate. they want guys who are sensitive. >> in touch with their sensitive side. >> i have one dear friend of mine who just finally gave her husband truly and said copy the words down and just say it to me. so i mean, you know, he just had to sensitivity whatsoever. >> are you for real a sensitive, romantic, loving kind of guy? >> i am a hopeless romantic. my problem is, get this now, i was diagnosed, i love this, when i was a kid. there was no a.d.d. i was -- lionel's overly sensitive. is the word they used. and my mother was crying. oh, my god, what do we do about this overly sensitive kid? and so, i would have made a terrible lawyer. terrible lawyer. but then once i started writing these songs, then automatically, it made sense to me. because i kind of go in simplicity. the simplest way to say it is the only way people want to hear it. >> how many times have you been properly in love in your life? >> god, you would ask that question. probably -- probably three times. probably three times. in my -- in my preschool class i fell -- >> do you remember? >> i do remember. >> what was her name? >> do i have to say it out loud? >> yes. >> all right. i will. anda pass. >> how old was she? >> i should say one more. dariel watts. the other one. i'm now going to get phone calls. all my cast -- oh my god. >> these are your first loves? >> these are the ones where you go, oh, my god, you know. why? she just said hello to me. you know? then from there, of course, i married the second one. you know, that was brenda. i married the third. that was diane. >> you married two of the three people you've been properly in love with. >> yeah. but you have to understand, it takes a lot for me to jump the broom. of course, now that i've been in hollywood for a minute, i must tell you that it's gotten out of hand here a little bit. >> well said. in what sense? >> you think a little bit more before you say i love you. or, as i say to people every day, every time i say i love you, i lose a house. but then -- but now, you know, that cinderella love is going to be absolutely something that -- that comes along that you're looking for. you really are looking for it. >> what have you really learned about love? >> that you have to throw yourself into it. i love that word, "fall" in love. if you're not falling in love, it means you let go. you have to let go. you can't control it. if you're not out of control and you know you're out of control when all of your friends will tell you, i wouldn't do that if i were you and you go, i don't care. i don't care is the keyword to falling in love. you don't really mind what people say. >> how do you keep love alive? how do you do it in your marriage? >> mine's easy. all you have to do is have kids. then i -- i celebrate the mother of my kids. so i'm a different kind of guy. instead of celebrating the last three months that was the complete disaster of the marriage, i celebrate the time, what was it when it was special? you follow me? once you become the mother of the kids, you will always be on that pedestal forever. so with me, i have a love affair with my family. and it took me 20 years for the first wife to speak to the second wife. and everybody but -- >> do they get on now? >> oh, no, it's perfect. it's actually quite unusual that we are a tribe now. you know, but i love it so much because our kids get to experience the family. the tribe. >> that's quite special. >> i love it. i must tell you. it's great for them to see us all interact. >> do you sing at these little tribal meetings? >> absolutely not. no. you know what it is? i think you experience the same. we are superstars until we come home. then i'm dad. and i love that. and now i -- >> i'm not even a superstar before i get home. this is where you and i are going to have a slight different starting point. >> what i love most is that it's a grounder for me. i actually have kids that miss the commadores. i have kids that miss the '80s. and now i have grand kids. they don't know who the heck i am at all which i'm loving the most. i am pop pop. i am pop pop. when pop pop comes up in room, we have show business. >> let's take another break. let's come back and talk about whitney. i want to get to whitney and see what you felt about the report that came out recently. i also want to talk to you about the sculpture in the "hello" video. i'm told there's a shocking tale to be revealed. >> shocking tale, yes. >> let's hear it after the break. ♪ you will always be my endless love ♪ ♪ your finances can't manage themselves. but that doesn't mean they won't try. bring all your finances together with the help of the one person who can. a certified financial planner professional. cfp. let's make a plan. tle emotional here? 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