A yardstick I use is whether an artist keeps a touring band and road crew once they're big enough to do whatever they want, and KR kept many, many people in his band and crew together for years, and treat them like family.
He was exceptionally smart business-wise, and the best advice I heard from his was the classic ' Be nice to them on the way up, 'cause you're sure going to need them to be nice to you on the way back down'. Gave a young Texan wannabe Don Henley his first break, and gold-plated Lionel Ritchie, among so many he gave a hand-up.
He had a huge run with those duets when he was the biggest thing out there, but I always loved this David Foster produced (and written by Richard Marx) trio with Kim Carnes and James Ingram, 'What About Me?'.
