Richard Marx Discusses His Brand New Album ‘Limitless’ and Breaks Down His Songwriting Process Through The Years!

Last night (Tuesday, March 3), downtown LA’s GRAMMY Museum welcomed GRAMMY-winner Richard Marx for an intimate Q & A moderated by Scott Goldman, followed by an engaging and impressive brief performance.

Marx has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, starting with his self-titled debut, which went to No. 8 on the Billboard Top 200 chart. The album spawned four Top 5 singles, including “Hold on to the Nights” and “Don’t Mean Nothing,” which earned him a GRAMMY nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. His follow-up, 1989’s “Repeat Offender,” was even more successful, hitting No. 1 and going quadruple-platinum with two No. 1 singles, “Satisfied” and “Right Here Waiting.” He has since made history as the only male artist whose first seven singles reached the Top 5 on the Billboard charts. Marx has also written on a No. 1 single in each of the last four decades, an accolade previously only reached by Michael Jackson.

For roughly 2 hours, the singer-songwriter discussed what songwriting has been like throughout his 40-year career. In fact, he told the sold-out crowd that he cannot even go a day without jotting down a lyric or singing a melody into his phone. Goldman asked the performer a lot about what it was like creating his most recent BMG album, “Limitless.” Released on February 7th, this is Richard’s first album of original songs in six years. They both agreed that it’s stylistically all over the place and somewhat schizophrenic. He worked with a number of people on it including his wife Daisy Fuentes, his son Lucas Marx, Sara Bareilles, EDM producer Morgan Page and his long-time friend and Vertical Horizon front-man Matt Scannell.

Marx spoke at length about touring these days and how much he is enjoying his solo acoustic tour. He said “the show happens between the songs.” He truly hopes fans leave his concerts feeling like they got to know him as a person and really enjoy themselves.

The Q & A ended with a touching story Marx shared about writing “Dance With My Father” with the late Luther Vandross. The song was dedicated to Vandross’s childhood memories of dancing with his father and the pair did win the 2004 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for it. Richard loved working with Vandross on the song and said winning the Grammy was bittersweet though since he wasn’t there to receive it with him as he had had a stroke and was in the hospital at the time.

After the interview was over, Richard performed several tracks off “Limitless” and a few of his greatest hits. Sitting on a stool with a guitar, he opened with his 1988 single, “Endless Summer Nights.” He invited his youngest son Lucas to join him on “Last Thing I Wanted” and his middle son Jesse to accompany him on “When You Loved Me.” Then he performed “Hazard,” “This One” and finished the short but sweet set with “Don’t Mean Nothing.” He was effortless in his delivery and certainly delighted everyone in attendance with these beloved tunes.

Richard Marx has scored 14 No. 1 singles both as a performer and as a songwriter/producer. He has certainly proven over the years just what a true multi-talented performer he is and an artist that continues to challenge himself and his fans.