b. 16 September 1963, Chicago, Illinois, USA. This singer-songwriter began his career at the age of five, singing on US advertising jingles written by his father. This became his professional vocation until he moved to Los Angeles and worked as a session vocalist in the studio for Lionel Richie, Madonna and Whitney Houston. He also established himself as a songwriter, co-writing Kenny Rogers 1984 hit ‘What About Me?’, and providing material for Chicago, Vixen and Freddie Jackson. Afterwards, Marx embarked on a solo career in his own right, enjoying a string of hits in the late 80s, including ‘Don’t Mean Nothing’ (US number 3, 1987), ‘Should’ve Known Better’ (US number 3, 1987), ‘Endless Summer Nights’ (US number 2, 1988). Three successive US number 1 singles in 1988-89 (‘Hold On To The Nights’, ‘Satisfied’ and ‘Right Here Waiting’), and the hit albums Richard Marx and Repeat Offender (a US chart-topper) proved the commercial effectiveness of his big ballad formula.
Marx married Cynthia Rhodes of the band Animotion in January 1989. The following decade saw Marx struggling to repeat his earlier success on the pop charts. He did enjoy a UK Top 5 hit in 1992 with ‘Hazard’, while the 1994 ballad ‘Now And Forever’, featured on the soundtrack of The Getaway, topped the US Adult Contemporary chart for 11 weeks. Marx also established himself as an in-demand songwriter and producer, and in 1999 started his own record company, Signal 21. His debut for the label was the following year’s Days In Avalon. He signed a new major label recording contract in 2003 and began work on a new album. In February 2004, Marx won a Grammy Award for Song Of The Year for co-authoring Luther Vandross’ ‘Dance With My Father’. His new album My Own Best Enemy was released later in the year.
