Richard Marx

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Singer, songwriter, musician, and producer Richard Marx has made history with a string of indelible hits that span both radio-ready rock tunes like “Don’t Mean Nothing” and “Should’ve Known Better,” and stirring romantic ballads like “Hold Onto The Nights” and “Right Here Waiting.” The Chicago native has sold more than 30 million albums and scored a total of 14 No. 1 singles. He is the only male solo artist to have his first seven singles reach the Top 5 on the Billboard charts. Quite simply, Marx has created the soundtrack to the most memorable moments in people’s lives. “I have written songs that are incredibly romantic — songs that people play at their weddings or that were playing when their kids were born,” Marx says. “They have traditionally dealt with the highest concept of forever.”

However on his new album, Beautiful Goodbye, Marx ventures into different territory both sonically and lyrically. With influences that range from Sade to Bebel Gilberto to various EDM artists, Marx offers up a set of sensual, electronic-driven soundscapes that explore a more fleeting, carnal side of romance. “My joke has been lately that instead of writing songs about forever, these songs are more like, ‘What are you doing for the next few hours?’” he says with a chuckle. “I don’t mean it in a shallow or discarding way, but let’s face it, sometimes you do have connections with people that are profound and beautiful, but they don't last. They're not meant to. They're meant to be a moment in time. The idea of exploring that lyrically was such a freeing thing for me as a writer.”

Marx signals that change is in the air with the album’s lush, cinematic opener “Whatever We Started.” “I wanted to create a piece of music that could stand on its own even without lyrics and tell a story of a three and a half minute seduction between two people where there’s no pressure over what it all means,” he says. “I went places lyrically where I thought, ‘Am I really going to write that? I'm going to leave that in there? Okay. Yeah, that's exactly what I want to say.’ It was like, ‘How do you smell? How do you feel in my arms?’ It was very liberating to describe how you’re feeling in a particular moment. I had never really experienced it before. I know that it's a direct result of my personal life and having been very blessed to have been married to an amazing woman for 25 years and then to be single for the first time in my adult life. That's going to inform a lot of what I write.”

Marx puts some of his pain over the end of his relationship into the piano ballad “Turn Off The Night,” then addresses the concept from a wholly different perspective on the album’s title track, which he co-wrote with first-time songwriter Daisy Fuentes. Fuentes suggested the idea based upon The Law of Detachment, which dictates that in detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty and how it can engender freedom from the past. “It was about how a euphoric, beautiful experience can exist within that framework,” Marx said. “I don't think I would have ever written a song like this on my own. It was really interesting to find myself, someone who has written thousands of songs, collaborating with someone who didn’t know the rules of songwriting and how it pushed me to break mine.”

“My motivation is not my image, fan base, or even album sales, which has freed me to do stuff I enjoy,” Marx says. That includes making an album that has allowed him to evolve as an artist. “If you're not open to new ideas then I think you might as well pull the dirt over your face,” he says. “These songs on Beautiful Goodbye are what came out of me when there were no restrictions. My headspace is about learning and being open. You’re never too old to learn new things.”