<TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963 in Winnetka, Illinois) is an adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter and record producer. He had a string of highly successful hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including &quot;Endless Summer Nights&quot;, &quot;Right Here Waiting&quot; and &quot;Hazard&quot;. Although most of his major hit songs were slow ballads like these, many of his songs had a classic rock style, such as &quot;Don&apos;t Mean Nothing,&quot; &quot;Should&apos;ve Known Better,&quot; &quot;Satisfied,&quot; and &quot;Too Late To Say Goodbye&quot;. Marx placed himself in the record books by being the first solo artist to have his first seven singles hit the Top 5 on the US charts.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Marx began his career in music at the age of 5, singing commercial jingles written by his father, Dick. Marx&apos;s list of &quot;commercial&quot; hits includes Arm &amp; Hammer and Nestlé Crunch.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Marx was 17 and living in Highland Park, Illinois when a tape of his songs ended up in the hands of Lionel Richie. Richie said he thought Marx had the talent to make it big, saying &quot;I can&apos;t promise you anything, but you should come to L.A.&quot; After graduating from high school, Marx moved to Los Angeles and visited Richie. &quot;He was recording his first solo album and having trouble with the background vocal,&quot; Richard recalls. &quot;He tells me, ‘Come try this part.’ It worked and I ended up singing on his album.&quot; Richard contributed backing vocals to Richie’s hits &quot;You Are,&quot; &quot;Running With The Night,&quot; and the chart-topping &quot;All Night Long,&quot; on Lionel&apos;s follow-up album.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In those early years, Richard would find any excuse possible to labour in the recording industry. His enthusiasm and his presence in the studio landed him several jobs as a background singer for artists like Madonna and Whitney Houston, and, eventually, as a songwriter. He was singing for Kenny Rogers in 1984 when he overheard Rogers say he needed a new song. Within days, Richard gave him a demo of &quot;Crazy.&quot; Rogers recorded it, along with another of Richard’s songs, &quot;What About Me,&quot; which also featured James Ingram and Kim Carnes. The trio recording hit #1 Adult Contemporary and #15 on the Hot 100 (while just scraping onto the Country chart) in late 1984 while &quot;Crazy&quot; hit #1 Country and #5 AC the following year. Soon after, Richard began working with producer David Foster and writing songs for the group Chicago and R&amp;B singer Freddie Jackson.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">While working as a songwriter and doing background vocals, Marx continued to pursue a record deal of his own. His demo tape was rejected by every label in Hollywood until, finally, four years after moving to Los Angeles, the president of EMI/Manhattan Records, Bruce Lundvall, heard Marx&apos;s demo and knew he had a star on his hands. He gave Marx a record deal and the opportunity to write and record whatever he wanted. Marx contacted his good friend Fee Waybill of The Tubes, and some very talented musicians, including Joe Walsh, and Randy Meisner of the Eagles, and created a ten-track album that put Richard on the path to success.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Music Career</B><FONT SIZE="10"></FONT></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Debut Album</B><FONT SIZE="10"></FONT></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Marx&apos;s self-titled debut album, released in June 1987, yielded four hit singles and sold nearly 4 million copies in the US. The debut single, &quot;Don’t Mean Nothing&quot;, had been released the previous month and climbed to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as #1 on Billboard&apos;s Album Rock charts. Richard became the first new artist played on 117 radio stations nationwide during his initial week on the charts. The next two singles, &quot;Should’ve Known Better&quot; and &quot;Endless Summer Nights&quot; reached #3 and #2, respectively. The fourth single release, &quot;Hold on to the Nights&quot;, earned Marx his first #1 single.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">With the success of his self-titled album, Marx became the first male artist to reach the Top 3 with four singles from a debut album. He embarked on his first world tour, initially opening for REO Speedwagon, but quickly began headlining his own shows. Marx&apos;s first tour kept him on the road for 14 months while the album remained on the charts for more than a year and a half.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In 1988, Marx was nominated for a Grammy Award for &apos;Best Rock Vocal Performance - Male&apos; for &quot;Don’t Mean Nothing&quot;</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Marx later revealed in an interview on VH-1 Classic that his favorite song that he performed from his first, self-titled album was &quot;Have Mercy&quot;.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Repeat Offender</B><FONT SIZE="10"></FONT></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Repeat Offender, Richard’s second release (May 1989) hit the pole position and pushed Prince out of the #1 spot on Billboard&apos;s Album chart. It went triple platinum within a few months and eventually sold over 5 million US copies. Repeat Offender was the result of the energy generated from over a year and a half on the road and was written or co-written entirely by Richard. &quot;Some people might think that it would be easier this time around, that I could just kick back,&quot; Richard said at the time, &quot;but the truth is, it’s harder, I’ve got more to prove.&quot;</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The first two singles, &quot;Satisfied&quot; and the platinum-selling &quot;Right Here Waiting,&quot; both reached #1, completing a string of three consecutive No. 1 singles. When the third single from Repeat Offender, &quot;Angelia&quot; climbed to #4, Richard became the first solo artist to reach the Top 5 with his first seven singles.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Another song from the album, &quot;Children of the Night,&quot; was written in support of the Los Angeles-based organization for runaways. It became the fifth single from Repeat Offender, and all royalties were donated to the charity.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Marx&apos;s second world tour began in the spring of 1989 and took him to Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada, and the United States, lasting through August 1990. Highlights of that tour included a performance in the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London and an invitation from Tina Turner to tour Germany.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Marx also had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform the Beatles’ &quot;Help&quot; at the Berlin Wall in late 1989. Richard also received his second Grammy nomination in 1990 for &quot;Best Pop Vocal Performance - Male&quot; for “Right Here Waiting”.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="11" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>Other Albums</B></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Marx went on to release a number of other albums. In 1991 he released his third consecutive multi-platinum album Rush Street. This album saw artists such as Luther Vandross and Billy Joel appear as backing vocalists and guest pianists. The disc&apos;s first single, &quot;Keep Coming Back&quot; went Top 10 pop as well as #1 on Billboard&apos;s Adult Contemporary charts for 4 weeks running. &quot;Hazard&quot;, which depicted a man being wrongfully accused of murder in a fictional version of Hazard, Nebraska, went #1 in charts around the world. Two more Top 10 singles were culled from Rush Street with &quot;Take This Heart&quot; and &quot;Chains Around My Heart&quot;. In August of 2001 Marx admitted that the track &quot;Superstar,&quot; from the Rush Street album was about pop star Madonna.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In early 1994, as Richard and his family permanently left Los Angeles behind and returned to Chicago, Marx released Paid Vacation, and scored his fourth consecutive platinum album. The acoustic ballad Now and Forever spent 11 weeks in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 and also held the #1 position on Billboard&apos;s Adult Contemporary charts for 11 weeks - at the time just one week short of the all-time record. The follow-up single, &quot;The Way She Loves Me&quot;, reached #3.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">1997 saw the release of, Flesh And Bone, Richard&apos;s final studio album with Capitol. Marx&apos;s sales cooled with this album in the States but was a major success in other parts of the world. The album&apos;s biggest hit was &quot;Until I Find You Again&quot;, a ballad that hit #1 in several countries and #3 in the US.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Marx&apos;s first Greatest Hits compilation was released in November 1997. The 16-track album includes all of the hit singles from his first five albums plus &quot;Angel’s Lullaby,&quot; a song written about his children that originally appeared on For Our Children, Too, a compilation CD released in 1996 to benefit the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Greatest Hits was released in Asia in November 1998 and included two new songs, &quot;Slipping Away&quot; and &quot;Thanks To You,&quot; a touching tribute to his mother. Marx’s dedication and support of numerous charities has continued throughout his career.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In 2000, Marx created his own record company &quot;Signal 21 Records&quot; with former Blood, Sweat &amp; Tears drummer and producer Bobby Colomby. This label was the launching pad for Marx&apos;s sixth studio release titled &quot;Days In Avalon.&quot; Due to distribution problems, it failed to chart in the U.S. The title song, however, was picked up by Adult Contemporary radio stations as an album track and spent 12 weeks in the Top 30. The label folded not long after.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In 2004, Marx signed a deal with EMI/Manhattan and returned to the Billboard charts with his album My Own Best Enemy which featured the hits &quot;When You&apos;re Gone&quot; and &quot;Ready To Fly&quot;.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In 2007 Marx released a new ballad titled &quot;Your Goodbye&quot; and a remixed version of his classic love song &quot;Hold On To The Nights&quot; on a Phil Ramone compilation production called &quot;New Music From An Old Friend.&quot; This compilation was released on the Target label called Spotlight.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT>