If they ever made an ‘80s update of “The Wonder Years,” chances are the scene where the Boy and the Girl share their first kiss would be scored with a Richard Marx song. Marx remains the premier balladeer of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, even setting a Billboard record by becoming the first solo artist to have his first seven singles place in the Top 5. On Saturday, January 23, Marx performs with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. at the Stranahan. We spoke to Marx from his Chicago home about file-sharing, the music biz ... and that so-bad-it’s-awesome mullet.
First of all, thank you for writing “Right Here Waiting.” Because of that song, Shannon Appleton danced with me in the 9th grade.
Man, you’re not the first guy to say “Dude, thank you so much.” I’m glad I could help.
A woman was recently fined nearly $2 million dollars for illegally downloading music, including one of your songs. What did you think when you heard that?
Well, I’m not endorsing illegal downloads, and that’s partly because I pity the up-n-coming songwriter, who is really the one who suffers from it. I’m lucky because I came up during the heyday of publishing where you could write a song and have it be lucrative. But most songwriters today are screwed. I don’t approve of stealing music, but I also don’t endorse the flagrant abuse by record companies. I think record companies suck. I know what CDs cost to make and I know where the money goes — I’ve released music independently. The judgment against that woman was laughable. She was a housewife during the worst economic crisis in decades. Besides, even if she had the money, none of those songwriters whose songs she downloaded would have seen a cent. It would just all go to the record companies.
You released your last album exclusively through the Internet. Is the traditional music industry machine dead?
No, not at all. It’s not thriving, but in some cases, it’s alive and well. Ask Rihanna or Lady GaGa that question and they’d think you were crazy. But in the aspect that (a record company) is needed to get music out there? Yeah, it’s dead. We could potentially see the end of major labels in five years. But if you’re a young, up-n-coming recording artist, good luck. Nowadays, if people do come out and sell a bunch of records, they usually only do it once. The concept of artist development is gone — it’s dead and that’s a drag. I recall what it was like when that industry machine worked for me, but times change and you have to change with them. I’m mostly a songwriter and producer for other people at this point, performing my own stuff is almost just a hobby. If I never sell another record, I have no complaints.
You’re performing with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. When you play with a full orchestra, what instruments do you play?
Piano and guitar. For this concert, I just sing on one or two songs without playing any instruments, which is weird — I never do that. We’re also going to do about half-a-dozen rock songs without the Symphony and I picked a few songs that I’ve never done live. We’ll be doing “Children of the Night” with the Symphony and I haven’t done that song live in over 10 years.
You co-wrote “Dance With My Father” with Luther Vandross, which won a Grammy. What’s your favorite memory of working with Luther?
Just laughing with him. We laughed incessantly. Luther was off-the-charts talented, but if you didn’t know him, you wouldn’t know how funny he was. He was one of those guys where you go, “Man, that’s a funny mother#$@%er right there!” Whether we were on the phone or in the studio, he would say s#$@ to me that was hilarious. He could be very sardonic; if he didn’t like you, he would rip you to shreds, but in a funny way. I miss him greatly. He knew that song was special when we wrote it. I didn’t see it as special at the time, but not a week goes by that someone doesn’t mention how much that song means to them.
I had a major crush on your wife (‘Dirty Dancing’ actress Cynthia Rhodes) when I was a kid. What’s she up to these days?
She’s amazing. She’s in the next room dealing with the scuff of the day — trying to get a tutor for our son for his chemistry class. Nineteen years ago when she got pregnant with our oldest son Brannon, she made the decision not to juggle a career and motherhood, so she said, “I want to take an indefinite break.” That break turned into retirement, but she loves being a mom. Over the years, I’d ask her if she missed her career as an actress or singer and she always said, “No, I love being a mom and your wife.” She’s just a wonderful woman.
Final question: Do you have any regrets about that mullet you wore back in the day?
No. I did a show recently where we did a video montage and we put together images of all these famous guys from ‘87-’88 who had mullets. There were so many — Mel Gibson, Bryan Adams and on and on. I put up the pics to show there were mullets just as f@#$ed up as mine during those years. My sons will sometimes see those old pics on the Internet and say, “Dude, what were you thinking?” I tell them, “Hey, we all thought we looked rockin’ back then.”
Richard Marx and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra will be performing on Saturday, January 23 at 8 p.m. at the Stranahan Theater. $35-$75. 419-246-8000/toledosymphony.org
