Richard Marx Is Right Here Waiting For You

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 9, 2006 6:30PM

The Tribune caught up with local-boy-made-good Richard Marx and discovered that he’s -– wait for it -– just a regular guy living on the North Shore. And writing country music.

We’ve been previously dismissive of the Midwest’s answer to Billy Joel, but after perusing the list of singles on his Greatest Hits album, we discovered we could hear each song playing in the crazy radio station in our mind, merely by glancing at the title. For a period in the late 80s, the man was a pop behemoth. And "Should've Known Better" still rocks in a Top Gun-soundtrack kind of way.

If this were "Behind The Music," this would be the point in the story were Marx starts doing crank or getting ripped off by a sleazy accountant. But no. The pop audience? She is a fickle mistress. And times changed. After a couple poorly received albums, Marx concentrated on writing and producing, and he picked up a Grammy in 2004 for composing Luther Vandross’ "Dance With My Father." He also began working with country artist Keith Urban and has become a frequent collaborator with other country artists.

At this point, our dominant memories of Marx involve his rock mullet and the series of videos for “Hazard” that left us confused about what really happened to that girl who got killed. But apparently, he’s on a bit of a comeback with the reissue of his Days in Avalon album and his recent appearance on the Fox show "Celebrity Duets."

Note: A correction has been posted regarding the above. Read about it here.