Name	Richard Marx
Height
Naionality
Date of Birth	September 16, 1963
Place of Birth
Famous for

Marx began his career in music at the age of 5, singing commercial jingles written by his late father (April 12, 1924 - August 12, 1997), Dick Marx's list of "commercial" hits includes Arm & Hammer and Nestlé Crunch.

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 "I can't promise you anything, but you should come to L.A." [3] So after graduating from high school, Marx moved to Los Angeles and visited Richie. "He was recording his first solo album (Lionel Richie) and having trouble with the background vocal," Marx recalls. "He tells me, ‘Come try this part.’ It worked and I ended up singing on his album." Marx contributed backing vocals to Richie’s hit "You Are", as well as "Running with the Night" and "All Night Long (All Night)", both on Richie's follow-up album Can't Slow Down.

In those early years, Marx 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. Marx also had a minor role in the movie Coach Of The Year, which starred Robert Conrad. He was singing for Kenny Rogers in 1984 when he overheard Rogers say he needed a new song. Within days, Marx gave him a demo of "Crazy." Rogers recorded it, along with another of Marx’s songs, "What About Me?", which also featured James Ingram and Kim Carnes. The trio recording hit #1 adult contemporary and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 (while just scraping onto the country and R&B charts) in late 1984 while "Crazy" hit #1 Country and #5 AC the following year. Soon after, Marx began working with producer David Foster and writing songs for the group Chicago and R&B singer Freddie Jackson.

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'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 led to a