-
-
Artists
Get your tour dates seen by one billion fans: Sign up as an artist
Marx’s career started aged 5, when he would sing jingles written by his father, who owned a commercial jingles company. It was when he was 17 that one of his demos ended up in the hands of Lionel Richie who invited Marx to sing on his debut solo album. Marx flew over to Los Angeles after his graduation to find himself singing on the songs “You Are”, “Running with the Night” and “All Night Long (All Night)”. His session singing career snowballed and he found himself singing for artists such as Madonna and Whitney Houston, which eventually turned into a songwriting career. He offered his song “Crazy” to Kenny Rogers, who recorded it, and also took the song “What About Me?” which featured the writing credits from James Ingram and Kim Carnes.
Marx finally released his eponymous debut album in June 1987, which would go on to sell almost four million copies in the US. The huge sophomore album “Repeat Offender” knocked Prince off the number 1 spot on the Billboard 200. The album would go triple platinum and eventually sold 5 million units in the US alone. It was the first two singles “Satisfied” and “Right Here Waiting” that went to number 1 in the Hot 100. He followed the success of this album with an international tour that included a visit to the Royal Albert Hall in London.
His third Platinum album “Rush Street” released on October 28th 1991 unfortunately didn’t quite achieve the success of the previous two albums, making it to number 35 in the Billboard 200 charts. Unfortunately, from the album “Flesh and Bone” released on April 8th 1997 until “Beautiful Goodbye” released on July 8th 2014, Marx chart success declined slightly, but it certainly didn’t have hinder on his biannually royalties check.
Richard Marx has been a billboard-topping, Grammy-winning hit-maker since the 1980s, as both a talented pop-rock writer/ musician in his own right, and with his songwriting- creating songs for huge acts such as Keith Urban’s Long Hot Summer, the N*Sync hit This I Promise You (remember them? That song was huge!) and Luther Vandross’ last hit record, Dance With My Father.
When I saw Marx at the elaborately ornate Shepherd’s Bush Empire venue in London in 2010, he played these songs, in his own impeccably classic style, and Dance With My Father was performed as a poignant tribute to a “dear absent friend”. The setting and atmosphere (picture lavish red velvet curtains and seats, Rococo-style statues adorning the walls, and gigantic chandeliers) really made the song feel all the more genuine and beautiful. The inclusion of a string orchestra in his live set further added to the epic sincerity of the experience of seeing Richard Marx live. His playful, witty audience shout-outs during the heart-wrenching ballad Angelia- “Come on, you all know the words to this one”; “This is where a guitar solo would go” (just before the song’s bridge)- injected humour and a closeness into the show, and added to the layered emotionality Marx is able to tap into and bring out of his audience.
With his timeless, classic approach to song composition and balladic numbers such as the (still-evocative) love songs Right Here Waiting and Beautiful Goodbye, Marx could, on paper, be plonked into the not-exaclty-favourable category of ‘dad-rock’ today. However, the sheer emotional force of his catchy, soaring hooks played out by a full string band, paired with his genuine superstar stage presence and husky yet sweetly sincere vocals, make seeing Marx live a truly incredible and emotive experience, that would stir the heartstrings of even the most stubbornly stoic hardballs in the audience. His songs (and vocal chords) have both definitely stood the test of time. You’ve gotta hand it to the man, he’s most certainly still got it- and trust me, it’s even better live.
louise_h
Log in to your account
