7 Things You Never Knew About Richard Marx

He Was a Born Star, Quite Literally

Born with a silver spoon, Marx had in him the ingénue gene from birth itself. Born to a famous father Dick Marx, who himself was a big celebrity of his time. His father was a jazz singer & also the owned a popular jingles company. Marx exhibited his inborn star qualities when he sang commercial jingles at his father’s syndicate at the age of just five years. Some of the major marketing hits of that time were Arm & Hammer, Nestle Crunch included vocals of the baby Marx in the popular team’s campaign. The jingles penned by him were crisp & beguiling, often catching the imagination of audience in no time.

Thus, we as it’s said ‘Child is identified in the cradle’, it is no wonder that Richard Marx songs turned out be his greatest hits. Some of the Richard Marx greatest hits were penned down by him when he was still a struggler.

Marx Was a Single Child from His Mother, but Had Step Siblings

Ruth, mother of Richard Marx, was the second wife of his father. His father had three children from his previous wife: two daughters & one son named Nancy, Judy & Jim respectively. He was born in Illinois in Chicago but traveled to LA to pursue his singing career. In an interview, Marx said that he had very supportive parents & a great family atmosphere which backed him to pursue his music dream.

Lionel Richie: The Godfather of Marx

Not many people know this, but it was the famous singer Lionel Richie that saw the glimpses of a star in the young Richard. When Richard was still in his teens, the tape of Richard’s songs fell on the lap of Richie. When he heard those songs, Richie believed that Marx had bright future in music. He casually told him, “You should come to Los Angeles to try your luck.”

In an interview, Richard Marx recollects that when he went to LA, Richie was recording his debut album but had few collywobbles with the vocals in the background. He called Marx to sing those vocals just as a trial. He did it so incredibly that started the string of “Rich-duo” (Richie & Richard) for plethora of upcoming future albums. Marx sang in some of Richie’s big hits like “You are”, “Running with the Night”, “All Night Long” and “Can’t Slow Down.”

Many gossipmongers credit Richard’s success to family connections as Dick (his father) was Richie’s friend. Some of them even say that it was Richard’s dad who landed his son’s tapes to Richie. To put that to dust is a simple fact that Dick Marx was in advertising arena while Richie was a man of music. There are many theories regarding that, but Richard’s talent rose above all.

Marx Had Paid Bills for Kenny Rogers as a Songwriter

The first album of Richard Marx with the same name came out in year 1987, which became an instant rage all over. The Richard Marx Hazard song got released in 1992 which catapulted him to the top of all songwriters. In fact, the Richard Marx Hazard song was believed as one of the finest song-stories ever produced in a music album. Many loyal fans claimed that Richard Marx songs in all of Richard Marx albums are solace for distressed souls. But before this success, he had paid bills for the Country Music Hall of Fame member Kenny Rogers. In 1984, the singing maestro Rogers took two of the Richard’s songs to Number One.

The legend is, Marx’s godfather Richie recommended him to Rogers. In fact, the song “Crazy” was written by 19-year-old Richard Marx when he discovered that Kenny was facing shortage of couple of songs in his album. He went and presented the song to Kenny which later turned out to be the massive hit.

When Rogers bought drinks for him to celebrate, he was legally not permitted to accept the drinks as he was just nineteen year old then. We bet you didn’t knew this.

Richard Marx: A Record Breaker

We all know that Richard Marx always breaks some kind of records with each of his music albums. He is the first artist (solo) to have his starting seven albums to be placed under Top-5 of the Billboard Hot Singles Chart. Over the last twelve years, Marx’s five studio albums sold millions of copies globularly. Also, his seventeen singles are quite a norm for being the bestsellers. He still remains the only male singer who in history of world music to have seven singles climbing to the Top 5 Billboard Charts. The Richard Marx songs have history of creating new records, all over the time continuously. The Richard Marx Angelia album has created many own sorts of plethora of small records that haven’t been achieved by any other artist.

In 1988, Richard Marx created record as the first male artist to climb to Top 3 with four singles in the first-ever album. During his initial weeks on the charts, he created a record by becoming the first-ever neophyte artist being played on one hundred and seventeen radios all over US. In the same year, he was also nominated for his album “Don’t mean anything” under the category “Solo Best Rock Vocal Performance” at the Grammys. The Richard Marx Angelia song also got some international applause for its soul-stirring lyrics.

In 2004, he won Grammy along with Luther Vandross for “Dance with my Father” which was Song of the Year that season.

Even today, any of the song he releases instantly finds a place on Richard Marx greatest hits list.

Richard Marx Is a Fitness Freak

It may seem that after all of the accomplishments, Richard Marx might have slowed down with the age. But the 51-year-old is still favorite with ladies for his impeccable body that would even put 20-somethings to shame. So if you’re wondering what the elixir behind Marx’s fitness is, it is nothing but his healthy diet and a proper regimented work shop schedule. He loves hiking and doing weights every other day. When he was asked what he can do better for himself, he confidently replied, “I’m perfect.”

He says that fitness is more of the mental thing than a physical one. Although his physical age is beyond fifty, he feels like a twenty-five year old guy from within.

Perhaps that’s the reason that many of Richard Marx albums reflect the aura of youth because he feels himself one.

Ladies, This Old Fox Is Single Right Now

Marx dissolved his 25-year-old marriage with Cynthia Rhodes in April last year. They have three sons, all adults by now, and the ex-couple have made it a mutual one. Although there were some rumors of his link-up recently, he joked he can’t be seeing anyone at fifty except for the pair of spectacles. He said life hit him hard on personal level & this hitting got to be on Richard Marx greatest hits.

So, this “King of Love Ballad” is definitely single. But is he ready to mingle? I’m sure many mature ladies out there (who are crazy fans of Richard Marx albums) are waiting for the answer with the bated breath.

Conclusion

Richard Marx always has the spotlight on him for right reasons, be it for his melodious songs or record crunching charts. His fans worldwide are waiting for his next album & we are sure it’s going to be a rocking hit again. But these little tit-bits about Richard’s life make the scene much more interesting. We hope we know discover more rare things about the record-breaking singer.