Richard Marx

Singer, songwriter, musician, and producer Richard Marx has made history with a string of indelible hits that span both radio-ready rock tunes like “Don’t Mean Nothing” and “Should’ve Known Better,” and stirring romantic ballads like “Hold Onto The Nights” and “Right Here Waiting.” The Chicago native has sold more than 30 million albums and scored a total of 14 No. 1 singles. He is the only male solo artist to have his first seven singles reach the Top 5 on the Billboard charts. Quite simply, Marx has created the soundtrack to the most memorable moments in people’s lives. “I have written songs that are incredibly romantic — songs that people play at their weddings or that were playing when their kids were born,” Marx says. “They have traditionally dealt with the highest concept of forever.” However on his new album, Beautiful Goodbye, Marx ventures into different territory both sonically and lyrically. With influences that range from Sade to Bebel Gilberto to various EDM artists, Marx offers up a set of sensual, electronic-driven soundscapes that explore a more fleeting, carnal side of romance. “My joke has been lately that instead of writing songs about forever, these songs are more like, ‘What are you doing for the next few hours?’” he says with a chuckle. “I don’t mean it in a shallow or discarding way, but let’s face it, sometimes you do have connections with people that are profound and beautiful, but they don’t last. They’re not meant to. They’re meant to be a moment in time. The idea of exploring that lyrically was such a freeing thing for me as a writer.” Marx signals that change is in the air with the album’s lush, cinematic opener “Whatever We Started.” “I wanted to create a piece of music that could stand on its own even without lyrics and tell a story of a three and a half minute seduction between two people where there’s no pressure over what it all means,” he says. “I went places lyrically where I thought, ‘Am I really going to write that? I’m going to leave that in there? Okay. Yeah, that’s exactly what I want to say.’ It was like, ‘How do you smell? How do you feel in my arms?’ It was very liberating to describe how you’re feeling in a particular moment. I had never really experienced it before. I know that it’s a direct result of my personal life and having been very blessed to have been married to an amazing woman for 25 years and then to be single for the first time in my adult life. That’s going to inform a lot of what I write.” Marx puts some of his pain over the end of his relationship into the piano ballad “Turn Off The Night,” then addresses the concept from a wholly different perspective on the album’s title track, which he co-wrote with first-time songwriter Daisy Fuentes. Fuentes suggested the idea based upon The Law of Detachment, which dictates that in detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty and how it can engender freedom from the past. “It was about how a euphoric, beautiful experience can exist within that framework,” Marx said. “I don’t think I would have ever written a song like this on my own. It was really interesting to find myself, someone who has written thousands of songs, collaborating with someone who didn’t know the rules of songwriting and how it pushed me to break mine.” Marx is also particularly fond of the album’s closing track, “Eyes On Me,” which he said came of his desire to “write something that every woman wants to hear and every man wishes he could say,” he explains. “To me, it sounds like a song that could have been written either 100 years ago or yesterday, both musically and lyrically. There’s just something really special about it to me. I’m really grateful for it because it’s a song I can point to for the rest of my life as one of a handful of songs that I think are true examples of the best kind of inspiration.” Though Beautiful Goodbye diverges from Marx’s previous work, he hasn’t abandoned his romantic spirit. “I never want to lose that,” he says. “I never want to lose the sense that what feels beautiful right now will hopefully feel beautiful for as long as it can. The difference is in a commitment to the idea of forever instead of just enjoying the moment and thinking, ‘Wow, I hope that lasts, but if it doesn’t, then it wasn’t meant to.’” That Marx wants to explore new terrain is not surprising, given the nature of his varied three-decade career. He got his first taste of the business at age five singing commercial jingles written by his father, a jazz pianist and successful jingle writer. When Marx was 17, a tape of his songs found their way to Lionel Richie, who became the aspiring artist’s earliest supporter, encouraging Marx to come to Los Angeles to ply his trade. Marx landed jobs as a background singer, performing with Whitney Houston and Luther Vandross, and as a songwriter, penning hits for Kenny Rogers and Chicago, before eventually landing his own record deal. His 1987 self-titled debut spawned four Top 5 singles and earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, while 1989’s Repeat Offender did even better, hitting No. 1 and going quadruple-platinum with two No. 1 singles (“Satisfied” and “Right Here Waiting”). He followed that up with two more platinum albums, 1991’s Rush Street and 1994’s Paid Vacation. For most artists, that would be remarkable enough, but Marx didn’t stop there, launching a second incarnation as a songwriter and producer for other artists. He has written songs for Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban, Vince Gill, LeAnn Rimes, Natalie Cole, Travis Tritt, Jennifer Nettles, Daughtry, Lifehouse, ’N SYNC, actor Hugh Jackman, and Luther Vandross, earning a 2004 Song of the Year Grammy for co-writing Vandross’ “Dance with My Father.” He also scored a No. 1 Country single with Keith Urban’s 2011 hit “Long Hot Summer,” enabling Marx to pull off the rare feat of having songs he has either written or co-written hit No. 1 in four separate decades. Marx has continued to release albums, including 1997’s Flesh and Bone, 2000’s Days of Avalon, 2004’s My Own Best Enemy, 2008’s Duo (with Vertical Horizon’s Matt Scannell), 2008’s Emotional Remains and Sundown, 2010’s Stories to Tell, and 2012’s Christmas Spirit. He has also remained active as a live performer, touring throughout the U.S., Europe, China, and Russia. In addition to his musical achievements, Marx is committed to several charitable causes, in the past donating proceeds from sales of his singles to the NYU Medical Center for pediatric cancer and the Children of the Night Foundation. Marx has also performed benefit concerts for the TJ Martell Foundation, Toys for Tots, Make a Wish Foundation, the American Cancer Society, Best Buddies, and the Special Olympics. Since 2008, he has hosted an annual event in Chicago for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, as well as an all-star benefit concert for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, raising more than $4 million for research to cure the disease. “My motivation is not my image, fan base, or even album sales, which has freed me to do stuff I enjoy,” Marx says. That includes making an album that has allowed him to evolve as an artist. “If you’re not open to new ideas then I think you might as well pull the dirt over your face,” he says. “These songs on Beautiful Goodbye are what came out of me when there were no restrictions. My headspace is about learning and being open. You’re never too old to learn new things.”