Richard Marx

Marx began his singing career when he was 5, singing the jingles written by his father for his advertising company. Some of the famous jingles advertised by Dick Marx are the ones for “Arm and Hammer”, “Ken-L Ration”, and “Nestle Crunch”. One of Marx’s tapes reached Lionel Richie when Richard was 17: Lionel, having seen a lot of potential in the young singer, suggested him to move to Los Angeles. So Richard completed his studies graduating from North Shore Country Day School, and moved to L.A., where he got to finally met Lionel Richie.

Initially he sang backing vocals for various artists. In 1984 he was singing for Kenny Rogers, and when he got a chance to show his talent, since Kenny was looking for some new songs, he prepared in few days the demo of the song “Crazy”, that later became a huge success. Marx had to knock many doors before he finally found someone ready to invest in his talent, but in 1987 he finally got a contract with the EMI/Manhattan Records. Bruce Lundvall, the president of EMI, clearly understood that Marx had the potential to become a “big”, and left him free to write and sing whatever he wanted. Marx contacted some very talented musicians, Fee Waybill (front man of “The Tubes”), Joe Walsh, and Randy Meisner of the “Eagles”: in short time they produced a ten-track album that opened for them a very successful career. The self-titled first album “Richard Marx” yield four hit singles, and sold more than 4 million copies. “Repeat Offender” was the second album, and it sold over 5 million copies. “Rush Street” was the third album, and it involved Billy Joel and Luther Vandross as the backing vocalists and pianists. The other albums he recorded are “Paid Vacation”, “Flesh and Bone”, “Greatest Hits”, “Days in Avalon”, “My Own Best Enemy”, “Duo”, “Emotional  Remains and Sundown”, “Stories To Tell”, “The Christmas EP”, “Christmas Spirit” and “Beautiful Goodbye”.

During his long career, Marx collaborated with many famous artist: one of his first “important” collaboration has been in 1997, when he sang with Donna Lewis in the song “At the Beginning”. In 2002 Marx collaborated with Paulina Rubio, writing the song “Border Girl”. During Summer 2006, Marx went on tour with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, with other artists like Edgar Winter, Sheila E, and Billy Squier.