Los Angeles, Jun 9 (IANS): Singer-songwriter Lionel Richie says a knee injury once made him apprehensive that his career could end.

The 67-year-old singer got candid about recovering from a torn meniscus and resuming his All the Hits tour with Mariah Carey during a chat with etonline.com.

"You go into denial and you are like, 'Oh, okay, I am having a little knee problem, I will just do some more shows and work it out," Richie said of his initial response to the injury.

"In the old days if you got a little pain, you work it out. Well, the more I started doing shows, what I had was a torn meniscus and the guys said what you do with that is you have to stop, and I didn't know how to stop."

He added: "I am programmed to run and so stopping meant I had to announce to pull the tour and I don't cancel tours. I don't cancel shows."

That's when he went through a series of withdrawals where people had to sit and talk to him.

"'Lionel, it is not the end of your career'," he was told.

Now, he feels great and "back to normal".

In February, Richie postponed the jaunt and underwent laparoscopic knee surgery.

The 22-city tour will now resume on June 22.