Singer, songwriter and producer Richard Noel Marx was born in Chicago, Illinois. He’s the only child of Ruth, a former singer, and the late Richard “Dick” Marx, a jazz musician and founder of a successful jingle company in the early 1960s.
Marx’s singing career began at the early age of 5 when he would sing the commercial jingles written by his father. When Marx was 17, a tape of his songs found its way into the hands of musician Lionel Richie. Richie heard Marx’s star potential and urged him to move to Los Angeles. After graduating from North Shore Country Day School, Marx moved to Los Angeles and ended up singing background vocals on Richie’s first solo album as well as his follow-up album. Marx would later sing background vocals for such stars as Madonna, the late Whitney Houston and the late Luther Vandross. While working as a songwriter and doing background vocals, Marx continued to pursue his own record deal. His demo tape was rejected by every label in Hollywood until the president of EMI/Manhattan Records, Bruce Lundvall, heard Marx's demo and knew he had a star on his hands.
Marx’s debut self-titled album was released in 1987, yielded four hit singles and sold nearly four million copies in the U.S. Its debut single, “Don’t Mean Nothing,” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on Billboard's Album Rock charts. The album’s fourth single, “Hold On to the Nights,” earned Marx his first No. 1 Pop single. His 1989 follow-up album, Repeat Offender, hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Album chart and went triple platinum within a few months of its release. Since then, Marx has continued to churn out catchy dance tunes as well as incredibly romantic ballads. He even won the Song of the Year Grammy award in 2004 for the song “Dance with My Father,” which he wrote with the late Luther Vandross. Marx’s latest album, Beautiful Goodbye, is his 11th studio album and was released in July 2014.
In honor of his 51st birthday, here is a top 10 list of Richard Marx songs.
image courtesy of Walter McBride/INFphoto.com
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10. “The Power Inside of Me”
Marx sang this song on the soundtrack to the 1996 romantic dramedy The Mirror Has Two Faces, which starred Barbra Streisand and Jeff Bridges. Streisand also produced and directed the film. The song’s lyrics speak of finding the power within yourself and played during a time in the film when Streisand’s character, Columbia University English Literature professor Rose Morgan, was making herself over to show her husband, Gregory Larkin (Bridges), a Columbia University Mathematics professor, that she was beautiful, both inside and out. The lyrics are very empowering, with lines like, “Seek and you shall find what you may already have/Sometimes it's your own shadow standing in your path… I feel a change in the tide/As I hold my heart open wide/Never knew what I could be/I never felt the power inside of me/Now I stand in all the wonder/That the mirror couldn't see/I have the power inside of me, yeah/I have the power inside of me/Every time I held a rose, I only felt the thorns/I feel like today's the day I finally was born/Now that I see me through these eyes/I can do more than fantasize.” It’s a great song to motivate listeners to make a change in their lives, whether it’s deciding to lose some weight or embarking on a new career. It’s an inspiring song and Marx’s compelling vocals drove the message across beautifully.
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9. “Until I Find You Again”
Off of Marx’s fifth studio album, Flesh and Bone, released in 1997, it was his last released on Capitol Records. This hauntingly romantic ballad reached No. 3 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100. On it, Marx croons about finding his love once more after she’s left him. It has anguishing lyrics such as, “Lately I've been trying/To fill up my days since you're gone/The speed of love is blinding/And I didn't know how to hold on/My mind won't clear/I'm out of tears/My heart's got no room left inside/ How many dreams will end?/How long can I pretend?/How many times will love pass me by/Until I find you again?... I can't hide, it's true/I still burn for you/Your memory just won't let me go.” The song’s video featured The Young and the Restless’ Lauralee Bell as Marx’s love as she’s watching an old romantic silent movie in a theater while Marx sings. It’s the perfect song if you want to make one last attempt at winning back “the one that got away.”
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8. “At the Beginning” (featuring Donna Lewis)
Off the soundtrack of the 1997 animated film Anastasia, Marx collaborated with Welsh singer-songwriter Donna Lewis. The song reached No. 2 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart, No. 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent a week at No. 1 on Radio & Records' Adult Contemporary Chart. The song gave Marx his eighth No. 1 hit single. Its lyrics have the duo singing about how two outsiders unpredictably find love and want to spent their journey of life and love, from beginning to end, together, with such lines as, “We were strangers, starting out on a journey/Never dreaming, what we'd have to go through/Now here we are, I'm suddenly standing/At the beginning with you/ No one told me I was going to find you/Unexpected, what you did to my heart/When I lost hope, you were there to remind me/This is the start/ And life is a road that I wanna keep going/Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing/Life is a road, now and forever, wonderful journey/I'll be there when the world stops turning/I'll be there when the storm is through/In the end I wanna be standing/At the beginning with you.” It’s a wonderfully romantic sentiment and Marx and Lewis’ vocal pairing is pure magic!
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7. “Days in Avalon”
This is the title track off of Marx’s sixth studio album, released in 2000. The song spent 12 weeks on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. It was released on the now defunct independent label, Signal 21, which Marx created with Blood, Sweat and Tears drummer Bobby Colomby. Its lyrics have Marx reminiscing about the ecstasy filled days he spent with his now lost love, with lines like, “I'm nearing the end/Or the beginning/Whichever one finds me/And I'm counting the tears/And the blessings/That I'll leave behind me/I could not ask for more/You were the one thing worth livin' for/I will remember days in Avalon/I will remember nights in your arms/I will remember days in Avalon/And I will recall every moment/Of my days in the sun/As I embrace the twilight/The memories surround me/I would have been lost/Sure as the rain comes/If you hadn't found me/Each breath I breathe is for you/I never knew how to live 'til you taught me to.” Its heartbreaking lyrics might make listeners think back to a lost love of theirs, I know I do every time I hear it.
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6. “Now and Forever”
Off of Marx’s fourth studio album, Paid Vacation, released in 1994, this song was a radio phenomenon! It was his ninth Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the most successful single on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, staying at No. 1 on the chart for 11 consecutive weeks. The album was dedicated to Marx’s wife, Cynthia Rhodes, of Dirty Dancing fame, and their three sons, Brandon, Lucas and Jesse. The song’s lyrics have Marx singing about how his lady is always there for him no matter what, how he’ll always be there for her and how lucky he is to have her in his life, with lines such as, “Whenever I'm weary/From the battles that raged in my head/You made sense of madness/When my sanity hangs by a thread/I lose my way, but still you/Seem to understand/Now and forever/I will be your man/Sometimes I just hold you/Too caught up in me to see/I'm holding a fortune/That Heaven has given to me/I'll try to show you/Each and every way I can/Now and forever/I will be your man.” Now, what woman wouldn’t want her man to tell her this? Marx’s cool, meaningful vocals conveyed his feelings perfectly!
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5. “Should've Known Better”
Off of Marx’s self-titled debut album, released in 1987, this song peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as No. 7 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Marx became the first solo artist in recording history to reach the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 with four singles from a debut album. The second single off the album, it also peaked at No. 20 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. Its lyrics have Marx crooning about knowing better after his love leaves him without an explanation and how he is tortured from still wanting her. The song’s music video gave a bit more insight into the song as we see that Marx’s love left him because she was married, which Marx didn’t seem to be aware of. Its suffering lyrics include, “Another sleepless night I can't explain/Somebody said they heard me call your name/The radio won't let you leave my mind/I know it's over but I don't know why/Should've known better/Than to fall in love with you/Now love is just a faded memory/Should've known better/Now I'm a prisoner to this pain/And my heart still aches for you/There was no risk that I wouldn't take/And not a promise that I didn't make/All I asked was that you just hold on/And now I'm wondering what I did wrong...I thought time might help me win this game/But being away from you is slowly driving me insane.” It has a great dance beat, but its message conveys a cautionary tale about being careful who you give your heart to.
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4. “Endless Summer Nights”
Another hit off of Marx’s 1987 self-titled debut. It was the album’s third single, peaked at No.2 on the U.S. Pop and Adult Contemporary charts and reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Its lyrics were inspired by a trip to Hawaii that Marx had taken with his then-girlfriend and future wife, Cynthia Rhodes. The song speaks of a great summer love affair that abruptly ends when fall comes, but Marx can’t forget about the woman and the nights they spent in each other’s embrace, with lines such as, “Summer came and left without a warning/All at once I looked and you were gone/And now you're looking back at me/Searching for a way that we can be like we were before/Now I'm back to what I knew before you/Somehow the city doesn't look the same/I'd give my life for one more night/Of having you here to hold me tight; oh, please/Take me there again…I still recall the walks along the beaches/And the way your hair would glisten in the sun/Rising in the afternoon/Making love to you under the moon, oh/Do you remember all the nights we spent in silence/Every single breath you took was mine/We can have it all again/Say that you'll be with me when the sun brings your heart to mine.” Every time I hear this song I fantasize about what Marx is singing about, which proves it’s the quintessential love song.
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3. “Take This Heart”
Off of Marx’s third studio album, Rush Street, released in 1991, this song hit No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. In the song’s music video, Marx is seen playing for the Chicago Cubs against the Oakland A's. The baseball scenes were intercut with Marx and his band playing the song on the field of the A's ballpark, the Oakland Coliseum. The song’s lyrics are about not being afraid to take a chance with your heart after a bad breakup, with lines like, “I've been where you are before/No one understands it more/You fear every step you take/So sure that your heart will break/It's not how the story ends/You'll be back on your feet again/ Baby, this time/There ain't nothing gonna take this heart away/No more goodbyes/There ain't nothing gonna take my heart away/The pain's still alive in you/For what one man put you through/You say that we're all the same/But I'm called by no other name.” With this song, Marx is trying to reaffirm a woman’s belief in love, specifically his love for her. After a devastating breakup, it’s more than likely every woman’s fantasy to find a man, who promises to heal her broken heart…and actually comes through with his promise. Marx’s booming vocals put forth this romantic message in a big way!
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2. “Hazard”
Another track off of Marx’s third studio album, Rush Street, it peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was also Marx’s third No. 1 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The song’s music video tells the story of the narrator (Marx) and an implied relationship with a young woman named Mary, who later dies by foul play and the small town shuns and blames Marx, who professes his innocence. The end of the video has Marx departing the town, leaving listeners of the song and viewers of the music video to make their own assumptions. The song’s lyrics are haunting as Marx talks about how the townspeople never accepted him, even as a boy, and his feelings for Mary, who accepted him when no one else did, with lines such as, “My mother came to Hazard when I was just seven/Even then the folks in town said with predjudiced eyes/That boy's not right/Three years ago when I came to know Mary/First time that someone looked beyond the rumors and the lies/And saw the man inside/We used to walk down by the river/She loved to watch the sun go down/We used to walk along the river/And dream our way out of this town/No one understood what I felt for Mary/No one cared until the night she went out walking alone/And never came home/Man with a badge came knocking next morning/Here was I surrounded by a thousand fingers suddenly/Pointed right at me/I swear I left her by the river/I swear I left her safe and sound/I need to make it to the river/And leave this old Nebraska town.” So, who killed Mary? Listen to the song, watch the music video and you decide!
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1. “The Way She Loves Me”
Another song off of Marx’s 1994 album, Paid Vacation, it’s a jaunty, danceable tune about how much Marx loves a girl and how he loves how she loves him back! It was the follow-up single to “Now and Forever,” reaching No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The song’s video has Marx and his band playing on a pier to onlookers dancing about to the lively song. The song’s lyrics are joyful, with lines like, “I'll have this feeling/Till the day that I die/When I hear my baby calling/A simple motion, a look in her eyes/And I'm helplessly falling/I'd give all of somebody else/For any piece of her heart that's left/She knows me better than I know myself/Let me tell you 'bout the way she loves me/Ooh, I'm proud to let it show/I'm crazy about the way she loves me/Ooh, I want the world to know/Yeah, yeah, yeah/Came close to letting this train pass me by/Just like a fool, second guessing/I could've spent my life wondering why/I didn't cherish the blessing/But If I’d a known, she'd come my way/the lonely nights would have been okay/I have her promise that she's gonna stay.” In the video, Marx looks like he’s having a fantastic time singing this song about a love that makes him feel he can fly. I confess, every time I listen to this song, I crank it up and let Marx’s jubilant vocals and romantic lyrics wash over me as I dance away, just like he and onlookers did in the video!