Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963)[4] is an American adult contemporary and pop rock singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.[5][6]
Marx's first number one success as a songwriter came in 1984 with "What About Me?", which was recorded by Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes, and James Ingram, and topped the US and Canadian Adult Contemporary charts. His second chart-topper was 1985's "Crazy", a song he co-wrote with Rogers which reached number one in the Hot Country Songs chart. Marx's self-titled debut album went triple-platinum in 1987, and his first single, "Don't Mean Nothing", reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[7][8] Between 1987 and 1994, he had 14 top 20 hits, including three number one singles.[9]
Marx is the only male artist in history to have his first seven singles reach the top 5 of the Billboard charts.[7] He has scored a total of 14 number one singles, both as a performer and as a songwriter/producer.[5] As a singer, his No. 1 hits include “Hazard”, "Right Here Waiting", "Hold On to the Nights", "Endless Summer Nights", and "Satisfied".[10] According to Billboard, Marx "holds the distinction of having written songs that have hit No. 1 on various Billboard charts in each of the last four decades."[11]
Marx was born in Chicago, Illinois,[4] the only child of Ruth (née Guildoo), a former singer, and Dick Marx, a jazz musician and founder of a jingle company in the early 1960s. His father was of German-Jewish descent.[14][15] Marx attended North Shore Country Day School.[16] He has three half-siblings from his father's previous marriage.[17]
Music career
Marx began his career in music at age five, singing commercial jingles written by his father's company; his list of advertising hits includes Arm & Hammer, Ken-L Ration[18] and Nestlé Crunch. Marx was 17 and living in Highland Park, Illinois, when a tape of his songs ended up in the hands of Lionel Richie. Richie thought Marx had talent and told the teen, "I can't promise you anything, but you should come to L.A."[19]
Marx said one of the first musicians he met in Los Angeles was Fee Waybill of The Tubes with whom he has collaborated at least 30 times. They met in a recording studio. In that same 2014 video segment for Ameoba Records. Marx called Waybill "my life-long best friend" and said Waybill is also godfather to his children.[20] Waybill went into great detail about their working relationship in a 2020 interview with American Songwriter. [21]
Debut album and stardom
Marx's self-titled debut album, released in June 1987, yielded four hit singles and went triple platinum.[7][8] The debut single, "Don't Mean Nothing", is a song about the potential pitfalls of the music business. "Don't Mean Nothing" reached No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on Billboard's Album Rock chart. Marx became the first new artist played on 117 radio stations nationwide during his initial week on the charts. The next two singles, "Should've Known Better" and "Endless Summer Nights", reached No. 3 and No. 2, respectively.[citation needed] The fourth single released from the album, "Hold On to the Nights", earned Marx his first No. 1 hit.[9] The latter three of the album's singles were also hits on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, beginning a long string of hits on that chart.
With the success of his self-titled album, Marx embarked on his first world tour, initially opening for REO Speedwagon, but quickly began headlining his own shows. His first tour kept him on the road for 14 months.[citation needed]
Repeat Offender, Marx's second album, was released in May 1989.[citation needed] It rose to No. 1 on Billboard's album chart. It went triple platinum within a few months and eventually sold over 5 million copies in the United States alone. The first two singles, "Satisfied" and the platinum-selling "Right Here Waiting", both reached No. 1.[citation needed]
"Right Here Waiting" was Marx's first No. 1 hit on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart as well as his first big hit outside of North America, reaching No. 1 in several European countries and giving Marx his first top ten hit in the UK. It has been covered numerous times, most notably by Monica and 112 in a 1998 duet. Another single from the album, "Children of the Night", was written and composed in support of a Van Nuys-based organization for runaways. It became the sixth single from Repeat Offender.[citation needed]
In 1991, Marx released his third consecutive platinum album Rush Street.[citation needed] The album saw artists such as Luther Vandross and Billy Joel appear as backing vocalists and guest pianists. The disc's first single, "Keep Coming Back", went to No. 12 on the Hot 100 and its second single, "Hazard", made it to No. 9. Both songs hit No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart for four weeks and one week respectively. "Hazard" became Marx's second UK top ten, reaching No. 3.[citation needed]
In early 1994, as he and his family permanently left Los Angeles behind and returned to Chicago, Marx released Paid Vacation, and scored his fourth consecutive platinum album.[citation needed] The acoustic ballad "Now and Forever" peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100, his final[update] top ten hit on that chart.[citation needed]
The year 1997 saw the release of Flesh and Bone, Marx's final studio album on the Capitol imprint. The disc's first single, "Until I Find You Again", hit No. 3 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart and No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.[citation needed]
Marx's Greatest Hits compilation was released in November 1997.[citation needed] The 16-track album includes a variety of hit singles from his first five albums plus "Angel's Lullaby", a song written about his children originally appearing on For Our Children, Too, a compilation CD released in 1996 to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Greatest Hits was released in Asia in November 1998 and included two new songs, "Slipping Away" and "Thanks to You", a tribute to his mother.[citation needed] The album was certified Gold in the U.S.[citation needed]
On June 12, 2008, Marx was part of a PBS television series called Songwriters in the Round Presents: Legends & Lyrics. In Episode 102 of the first season, Marx appeared along with Kenny Loggins, Nathan Lee, and rock band Three Doors Down. This episode also featured an interview with singer-songwriter Diane Warren.[24][25][26]
On December 6, 2008, Marx headlined a fundraiser for cystic fibrosis research, "Newsapalooza", sponsored by WLS-AM's Roe Conn program, in which Marx both performed several of his hits with his band and accompanied Chicago broadcast news reporters and anchors covering rock hits.[27]
On May 3, 2011, Marx was invited onto the stage at the Curran Theater in San Francisco by Hugh Jackman. It was opening night of Hugh Jackman in Performance. Jackman and Marx sang "Right Here Waiting" together, with Marx changing the lyrics of the last chorus to "right here waiting for Hugh".[citation needed]
Also on May 3, 2011, the reissue of Stories to Tell was released in the United States as a three-disc set exclusively through Walmart. The set included a "best of" disc, an acoustic disc of tracks, and a DVD of a live concert performance at the Shepherd's Bush venue in England.[citation needed] The album was also made available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon, but without the bonus DVD and album booklet. "Everybody" was released as a single in Europe and "When You Loved Me" was released in the U.S., peaking in the Top 20 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[30]
In the summer of 2011, Marx collaborated with the internet comedy duo Rhett and Link, producing a celebrity endorsement for a colon-cleansing spa in Sacramento, California. The ad spot and its "making of" was featured on an episode of Rhett and Link's Commercial Kings television series on IFC.[31]
Marx's next album, Limitless, was released on February 7, 2020.[32][33] Its lead-off single, "Another One Down", hit No. 14 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, giving Marx a span of 32 years at the format.[citation needed]
His new album Songwriter was released on September 30, 2022, and released the first single Same Heartbreak, Different Day on July 15, 2022. A previous non-album single Just Go that was subsequently released as a bonus track to the Beautiful Goodbye is also on this album, along with the studio version of Moscow Calling that had also been a bonus track to Beautiful Goodbye as a remix.
1997 – Marx recorded "Surrender to Me" with Lara Fabian for the 1997 album Flesh and Bones International Ed.
1999 – Marx built "Renegade Studios", a state of the art recording facility located in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Artists such as Philip Sayce, Keith Urban, and Emerson Drive have recorded material at this location.
2000 – Marx wrote and produced "This I Promise You", a single by NSYNC.
2002 – Marx collaborated with Mexican singer Paulina Rubio on her sixth studio album and first English debut album, writing the song titled 'Border Girl' which led to the album's name titled Border Girl.
2004 – At the 46th Grammy Awards on February 8, 2004, Marx won a Grammy for Song of the Year for "Dance with My Father", which he wrote and composed in collaboration with Luther Vandross. On that same night, he played the piano accompanying Celine Dion in performing "Dance with My Father", since Vandross was not present at the ceremony for health reasons. (Vandross died the following year.)
2007 – In 2007 Marx released a new ballad titled "Your Goodbye" and a new version of his classic love song "Hold On to the Nights" on a Phil Ramone compilation production called New Music from an Old Friend. This compilation was released on the Target label Spotlight.
Personal life
On January 8, 1989, Marx married singer, dancer, and actress Cynthia Rhodes, who appeared in Staying Alive, Flashdance, and Dirty Dancing.[4] Rhodes appeared as the female lead in Marx's first video, "Don't Mean Nothing". In April 2014, the couple announced they were divorcing.[36]
On December 21, 2016, it was reported that Marx helped Korean Air flight attendants pacify an unruly, possibly intoxicated passenger while he and his wife were aboard a flight bound from Hanoi to Seoul,[39][40] even providing photographic evidence of the incident.[41][42][43] He also criticized the airline's handling of the situation. In response, Korean Air stated that they would respond more assertively to similar situations in the future.[44]
