On your Marx: He brings a diversity to his music

Mention the name Richard Marx and many people will recall his No. 1 radio hits. But to leave the connection at that would be unfair.

Marx, a native of Highland Park performing this weekend at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, has both written and produced albums for some of the biggest names in the music business, including Keith Urban, Michael Bolton, Barbra Streisand and others.

He was also the first male artist to reach the Top 3 with four singles from a debut album and the first solo artist to have seven singles hit the Top 5 on the U.S. Charts. In 2004 he won a Grammy for Song of the Year for "Dance With My Father," which he wrote with Luther Vandross.

"I've had number one songs on pretty much every chart," said Marx. "From classical crossover to country, to hard rock to pop, to sappy ballads. I'm really proud of the diversity in the music and that it doesn't all sound the same. That's my favorite part of what I've been able to do."

Marx had his first gig at age 5. Hired by a friend of his father's to sing about unity and equality for a national TV show about race relations, he quickly found that he was born to do this.

"It was the most natural (thing). There wasn't a touch of nerves. It was just like 'oh yeah, this is who I am, this is what I do.' "

Up until that point, his parents -- a professional jingle writer father and a songbird mother -- had chosen not to influence him in that direction. But Marx grew up watching his parents love every minute of their work, and it had an impact on him.

"I remember just thinking that was really cool and wanting that," he said.

Discovered by Lionel Richie when he was 17, Marx moved to L.A. He sang backup for Richie and others, writing songs, working with record producer David Foster and at the same time pushing forward with his own recording career.

"It just completely changed the course of my life," Marx said. "I was planning on applying to Northwestern, taking some more music classes and trying to figure out what the steps were going to be to try to have a career in the music business, and it was as if somebody handed me a short cut."

Marx's 1987 debut album produced four hit singles: "Don't Mean Nothing," "Should've Known Better," "Endless Summer Nights" and "Hold on to the Nights." He recorded other albums, but eventually decided to return to the Chicago area with his wife, singer-actress Cynthia Rhodes.

"When we started thinking about having kids, we started thinking about getting out of LA. I know people raise families very successfully there every day, but we just didn't feel it was conducive to the kind of upbringing we wanted for our kids."

Marx has always had, since leaving home, what he describes as a sort of cosmic experience with Chicago.

"Whenever we'd be on tour, if we had to drive through Chicago in the middle of the night, I could be in REM sleep, and I would wake up, look out the window, and we'd be driving through Chicago. I've always had such an emotional attachment to my home town that it was inevitable that I ended up back here."

He and Cynthia have three sons, ages 14, 15 and 17.

Family continues to come first for Marx. Having built Renegade Studios on his West suburban property in 1991, he's able to do most of his work from home.

"I really love being home," said Marx. "Being so in love with my family and really in love with my family life, in the suburbs of my favorite city in the world. I have a great studio at my house where I do probably 85 percent of the work, which means that I can be making a record for myself or somebody else and still have dinner at home every night."

Marx's concert at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles will be an acoustic night with Matt Scannell of the group Vertical Horizon. They first came together doing a couple of charity gigs, then ended up taking that out on the road, and also recording a new digital album, "Duo," which is available on Marx's Web site, www.richardmarx.com.

Marx is also coming out with two new albums which will both release in a couple of months. "Emotional Remains" is a rock album, which "Sundown" a romance record.

An Acoustic Evening with Richard Marx, with Special Guest Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: The Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles

Tickets: (630) 587-8400 or www.o-shows.com