RICHARD MARX

Published Jan 14, 2020, 2:00 PM

How many times do you think I've played "Right Here Waiting For You" since it was released in 1989? I wouldn't even be able to guess, but let's just say A LOT!!!! With me in the studio on this episode of LOVE SOMEONE with Delilah, is the man behind the music, the incredible Richard Marx!

We're talkin' life, love, and music music music. Jump in and catch up with Richard and I. You know you want to hear about life with Daisy Fuentes, his boys, his past, his present, and what the future holds. (Hint: Music!)

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With me in the studio for this podcast Loves Someone with Delilah is the amazing Richard Marks and uh my podcast producer Diana just said, why aren't we rolling tape on this because this is such good stuff. It's all downhill from here. We said all the good stuff before. Yeah, dang it, dang it, um, But on this podcast, I not only want to talk about your music, your music history, you're writing your life. I want to talk about the ways that you are changing the world for good. That's a lot of pressure. I don't know that I am, but I'm certainly giving in a the old college try. So we're going to talk about all that and so much more with Richard Marks. Right now, We're gonna just pause a moment to talk about the fabulous people who sponsored this podcast and make it all possible. The Home Depot, if you like to organize, is all your things. This month is dedicated to you. There's something about the beginning of the year that provides this burst of energy to organize everything around you, to clean out closets and garages, to put everything away just so thank goodness, the home Depot is there to meet your every storage container need. Your home Depot store has tote containers of every size and every kind, from see through to heavy duty, and shelving systems to put all those totes onto. And if that's not enough, every big game in the storage business is on display, Husky and Sterilite and h d X the home depot. How doers get more done? In the studio loves Someone with Delilah with Richard Marx, and all week long people have said, sir Richard Marx is coming to your farm, and I'm like, yes, and I'm gonna be right here waiting for him. And I'm like, I bet you've heard that like five hundred million bazillion times I have. And it never gets old, especially even now. Did Daisy say that when you guys met, No, but after we got married. It was really after we get married, almost four years ago that she started doing that all the time, and it really doesn't get old. So, like, we'll be out somewhere and she'll go, I just need to run into Ralph's to get some spinach for okay, and I'll pull up, or if I have to run an errand or something, and she's She'll go, I'll be right here waiting for you. That's her. Just look at herund that it never gets old, never gets old. Yeah. But when I say, it's a little different than when the most beautiful woman in the world that you're married, she really she I get speechless, you know, talking about her even now and you've been married four years. How long did you date before? Not that long, maybe a year and a half. How long after you met Daisy one days? By the way, if you went and looked at my closet, you would notice that I have a lot of the dresses that she's designed. Her. Her brand has been on fire for fifteen years. Yeah. I don't know why I don't look like she looked like, uh, you know, what's up with that? But um, how long after you met the most beautiful woman in the world, Richard Marks, did you know you were going to, like, I want to spend the rest of your life with her? Well, I mean, you know, our trajectory was a little complicated because I actually talked to her on the phone twenty five years ago. Briefly, she was supposed to interview me on MTV. You know, she was on MTV for many years, and I always, like everybody else, I had a crush on her, you know, from Afar. I thought she was a girl crush on her, Yeah, most of most of them are most of the women in my life have a crush on days. So, you know, she's obviously physically beautiful, but there were even back then. I remember when I would see her on MTV, I would think she's just cool, like she would be fun to hang out with. But it was that was it because I was married for you know, hundred years, and from the time I was one, I was with my ex wife and and so there was never like, you know, it was just a crush. It a little crush. But we spoke on the phone because she was supposed to interview me and something happened, and so we talked in the phone for like a minute. Flash forward to I'm single for half a second, and I did a gig in l A and she that's where I met her. And when she walked backstage, which she she usually doesn't do the backstage thing, um, but she walked into the room. And this sounds so sappy, but it's really like that. It was the moment. Despite all the songs I've written, I never really believed in love at first sight or any of that stuff, even though you wrote about it, and I've played all those songs all those years, and there are aspects, of course to a lot of the relationship songs that I've written that I stand behind, but a lot of it is also just sort of you write about what you hope and what you wish. You know, I didn't believe in that, because it just seems so ridiculous. You can't know that. All I can tell you is when when I first saw her, when she walked through the door, what happened to me physically was I just remember thinking my life is different now, and no matter what would have happened, there was something just so electric about that moment her walking towards me and we met. And what's really amazing is it was at a at this gig in l A at the Grammy Museum. So there's actually there was a Getty photographer. There's a photo of the minute we met. Did he get the look on your face? Did he get he just it's a sweet smile, but for both of us, but you know, we literally, you know, hugged and then the guy said, hey, can I get a picture of you guys? And we turned and so we had there's that photograph and it was you know, we said, how could we not have met all these years? Well, the thing that's amazing about her is that, um, we exchanged numbers and I started to I was like, oh my god, she she's just extraordinary and she's this and she's like, I've got to get to know her. And we started to hang out a little bit. But she was so smart that she knew I was coming out of a really, really long marriage and that I'd never been single in my adult life, and she made me be single for a while. She kind of shut us down. She was like, you need to know what it's like to be single. You've never experienced that. And she's like, I hope it doesn't ultimately blow up on my face, but I can't just sort of dive into a relationship knowing that you've never had that experience and you need to go hang out. And I was like, I don't want to. I Like, she was like, why would I ever look at another woman when I You've got me the heart, mind, body, and so it was brilliant and I reluctant, Like she really kind of gave me no choice. She kind of just said, you know, I love hanging out with you, but you you need to you need to go play the field. You need to play the field. You need to know what it's like to be on your own and Engleland, and so she kind of we we That was about eight nine months and them, little by little we started to reintroduce ourselves to each other. And that was really cool because it wasn't just sort of like a full on dating thing. We were we then got to know that she started to court her. It sounds like, well, I always courted her. I was always into into that, but there was something about like when we reconnected eight or nine months later, it was really through sending each other links to thoughtful ideas and lectures and quotes, and it was that kind of courting. It was like we were we were connecting in a way like like how can we help each other as human beings because we really like each other, we really really care for each other, and we were both on this journey of exploration, which we're still on together as a married couple. And it was really kind of cool. Plus Martinis, it was pretty and Martini's wow, Uh, so you reconnected and you started this courtship and then how long was it before you walked down the aisle. Oh, well, so we had sort of decided. I felt like we had decided that we didn't need to get married. In fact, we both talked a lot about how we thought that marriage was kind of dumb. It says he who has a wedding ring on right. But I will say this, one thing I did learn, at least in my experience with all the people that I know whose stories I really know, is that there seems to almost always be some agenda two two people getting married by one person or the other. Either it's financial security, or it's I want to have a baby, or it's I don't want to be alone, I don't want to grow old alone. And where there is even the most kind sweet it's still an agenda. It's still I need something from that person, and a contractual obligation like a marriage will will get me what I'm after. It's really true. And so we were fine. We were really having a great time. You know, we adopted a couple of dogs and and we were just great. And then it hit me. We took this trip. I was performing in Singapore. I had a private show in Singapore on a Saturday night, and a week later I had a public show and a beautiful venue the following Saturday, and so we spent the weekend between in the Maldives. We've never been there before, and we traveled really well together, and we had this blissful week. And I remember coming back to Singapore thinking I want her to be my family. But there was just something about like I want to marry her for the only reason that I think you should, which is like there's no reason. I just want her to be family, you know. And I decided that I was going to propose when we got back from this trip, and it was the day the next day, and I remember saying, um, you know when it she opened the the ringbox. She was so shocked she couldn't breathe. So the first thing I said was breath. You can breathe, I said. And I just want you to know there's no wrong answer. I would love to marry you, but if this is not something you want to do, or you want to you don't want to change what we are, I'm totally fine either way, You're it's all good. And she took a minute and she said the most amazing thing to me. She said, I decided a long time ago that I never wanted to be married, but I want to be married to you. And so we got married a month later. We were actually um, this was in December. We were we were going to have all of our family together over the holidays in Aspen. We rented a house and askedpen to spend Christmas with our families. And so she said, you're really serious about this because we could just do it at the house over the holiday. I said great. And her sister gras an of got ordained in the state of Colorado and she married us. Sweet. Yeah, it's awesome, sweet sweet sweet. So yeah, we're coming up on four years married and you have children that are older. How did they how did they take to step mom being the most beautiful woman in the world. Well, I mean as they as they got to know Daisy as far as my boys, you know, they obviously are protective of me, um, and they sussed it out pretty quickly. And so they had gotten to know her for several months. And and we had a birthday party from my mom, her eightieth birthday, and we were toasting her and celebrating stuff, and then my oldest son, Brandon said, I just want to make one more toast and he said, I want to make a toast to Daisy because I've never seen my father so happy. And they've all it all started with that. They started they saw, you know, my my middle son, Lucas and I. He's going kind of going through some personal stuff right now with his relationships, and um, he's a really thoughtful, amazing man, young man, and he's really fascinated with the concept of changing your behavior there there. You know, there's the argument that some people go it just just can't be done, and I believe I completely disagree with that, you know, And we were kind of going back and forth like do you ever really change? Are people really? Um? Did they have the potential to really change? And Lucas said, and every time I have that question, I think of you. And he said, you're a different man than you were before. And I don't mean that in any um pejorative or negative way about my ex wife, who's a wonderful person. It was me. It was like I wasn't I wasn't living my true self. And what my sons now have now been seeing for five years is this other aspect of me that's fleetly authentic that they have gotten even closer to my relationship with my sons has never been better, and it would be a drag, but it would be doable. If they didn't if they didn't really get along that well with Daisy, we would deal with it, right. But they've become such close friends with her, and they, like I do, they admire Daisy and respect her like I do, but they also just love they love hanging out with her because she's so freaking fun. It's just we we as a as the new version of this family, just have a blast. So what are some of the fun things Like if if somebody were to peek into your life and see like the crazy stupid fun things that you and Daisy or you're you and Daisy and the boys are you and your mom like to do? What would be a window into that that somebody might be shocked at. It's not crazy stupid stuff. It's stuff like, uh okay, Like a month ago, I was getting ready to go on the road and we hadn't had a We try to have a family dinner of some kind at least every week, but that wasn't happening for a while. So we finally got all the boys together to come over with my mom, who's four, but like super cool um, and we had a really nice dinner and then Daisy surprised us with this game. Well, we went into the living room and she said, everybody's gonna write down one word to describe that person, and then one word to describe that person, and we're gonna so it became this game where it became. It was hilarious, but it was It's those kind of things, like it's more thoughtful. What's the right word, it's real, Like we really really talk about real stuff. We don't talk about Game of Thrones, you know. We talked about life and helping each other. And that's really taken a hugely forward since Daisy and I got married in terms of the whole family. Authentic. I like that you use that word earlier, authentic. Can you imagine if everybody would take off the mask and stop hiding and stop pretending and being whatever they're not, whatever they think they're supposed to be, and instead we're just authentic. Well it's harder now, especially, I think, because you know, things like Instagram have made it that much more difficult to be just sort of who you are because the competition for people put on themselves to be I'm not. I'm not having as good a life as they are on Instagram. Yeah, but if you saw their real life, you'd be like, oh wow, well it's funny, you should say. Because our listeners can't see this. But on your phone case has a gorgeous picture of your wife, Daisy Fuentes. I mean, she's so it looks like it should be on a billboard. It's beautiful. And the first thing I thought when I saw that is that would be really funny. One of those pinterests fails, you know, if I tried to get the same here's Daisy's flintas wearing this this fish net outfit, and here's the But that was my thought because, like you said, competition. My instant thought was that kind of I I don't wake up looking that gorgeous. Not that not that I don't love myself and love that what God made, because I do. And I'm much more comfortable in my skin today than I ever have been in my life. Um, And I praise God. I thank God for the life that I have and and the body that I have. And I got a new hip so I can walk, and I have to ride horses, and and and isn't it amazing to be able to do stuff without pain. Gosh, you know I got I got both my hips replaced it when I was fifty one, so like four or five years ago, and it was like life. Yeah. I had to use the cart at the grocery store. Oh wow, Yeah, I could not walk. So I am. I am happy as can be with the body of But back to your point that it is very hard to be authentic in a world where everything is captured, videotaped, everything is instagrammed, everything is face tuned, everything is an image, a brand, the Richard Marks brand, instead of you your music. We're going to take a quick break here to talk about one of our sponsors. So let's talk about your music. Because I was mentioning before. I have been on the air full time since nineteen nievable. Yeah, and I've been doing this show since nine. Wow. I think I've played every song you've You've ever readden a part of well you definitely play every song I recorded, because I didn't start recording until seven. But the first song I wrote that someone else recorded I was nineteen or twenty. Kenny Rogers, Kim Karnes and James Ingram in a song called what about Me? What about Me? This is They wouldn't. There were a bunch of stations in the South that wouldn't play it because it was a love triangle between Kenny Rogers and James Ingram and Kim Carnes, and there were a bunch of Southern stations and said, we're not going to play a song between a white man and a black man over a white woman. That's still how screwed up it was. Yeah, yeah, you you must have played you know, every single, every yeah, and I played them on vinyl when I was playing damn right, you did yeah with a penny on the needle. So you didn't start recording until seven. But how many hits did you write before then? A few because you worked with in sync. Oh that was way after Yeah, yeah, that was in the nineties. So I wrote what About Me with Kenny Rogers and David Foster, and then I wrote a song with Kenny called Crazy I guess sound Crazy Ready for you. I'm still in touch with Kenny Rogers, but I love Kenny Rogers And that song went to number one Country Top five A c in like that would have been eighty four as well. And then just some random song I wrote a song on a Chicago album. I wrote a song with Philip Bailey for the movie The Goonies. And and I was making a living as a songwriter, but mostly as a background singer. So I sang on a ton of records you played before I had a record deal. I sang on all night long by Lionel Richie. I sang out all the Lionel Richie hits. I kissed Lionel Richiel. Did you He's the coolest, He's so cool, he is so cool him. Yeah, we had a moment. Yeah, well it was it was an autograph line, but for me it was a moment. Yeah. He uh. You know. I've told the story many times, but when I was eighteen years old, I had written four or five songs. I was living in Chicago with my parents. I was in my senior year of high school, and I had written my first four or five songs that I thought were worthy of at least demoing. And I found a studio and I paid for it, of course, by myself, with my savings. And I made this demo tape cassette which went from a friend of mine in college who was a year ahead of me. And I was in college to his roommate, to another guy, to another guy who was working with the Commodores at the time. This is right as Lionel was just about to go solo, and the phone rings and it's Lionel Richie, and you were eighteen. I was eighteen, maybe seventeen actually, because I yeah, I gret I was still seventeen when I gradually. I was seventeen and in my senior year of high school. And he said, I heard this tape of yours and my phone number was written and pencil on the back. He called the number and he just called to tell me that he thought I was really talented and then I should give it a shot. And he said, look, I have no work for you. I don't I can't promise. I'm not here to promise you anything. I just want to tell you, you know, I hear tapes all the time, and if these are your first, this is your first batch of songs. May you should hear my first songs? They sucked? And I just you know, you should move to l A. I don't know what your plans are. Your parents are gonna probably hate me, but you know, because I was thinking about going to Northwestern and going and my bailed and my parents were like, go go to l A and try. He can always go back to school of you know, And so he said, but look me up if you come out to l A. He gave me his number and so year year and changed later tude, I come out wait and he invites me over to the studio. He's making his solo record. And I'm sitting in the studio and I, first of all, I was just so thrilled to meet him, and he was so he's such a charming guy. And I'm sitting there watching them. They're doing background vocals on this song called You Are, which became a huge hit for him, right, and they were really struggling with the blend. He couldn't find the sound that he was looking for, And all of a sudden he looked through the glass at me any point and he come out here. I go out there and he's you sing my part that I was singing, and he switched the parts with the other two singers and he went in the control room anyway, okay, go chorus, and we sang and he went that's the sound. And I never missed a day at the studio. He said, I want you to sing background vocals on this record. But I just want you to know that if I'm in this room, whether you're singing or not, you're welcome to be in this room. And so for four months, every day I went to the studio and watched him make that record. What a gift, that gift. And so cut two and this is you'll really appreciate this. So cut to six months ago, maybe I get this incredible um offered to come and open for Barbara Streisand at Hyde Park in London. And Barbara and I have been friends for a long time. So wait, like, could your life be any more magical? Could your life, Richard Marks, be any more like Blass? I know, married to the most beautiful in the world, best friends with your three boys, best friends with mama. The hair, you got great hair, and you get to open for Barbara Streisand and you got you got a phone call it eighteen from Lionel Richie, who friends with But wait, this is so great, this is such a bookend. So I knew that Lionel had played the night before at Hyde Park opening for Stevie. Wonder Stevie wondered, Lionel Richie, Barbara Streice on Richard barks You're killing me. This was the night before, and then the next night was you and Barbara and barb Christmus Offerson was on as well, but um and so I'm on stage and it was such a magical gig and then watching Barbara do her thing was amazing. And I get back to the dressing room and there's a text on my phone from Lionel and the text says, I'm sitting on my hotel balcony listening to you sing right here waiting, and I'm so proud view I mean, that's thirty seven years later, how sweet. And I texted I was like, dude, where are you. Let's go to dinner. He said, I'm getting ready to go to the airport. But he said, I'm I'm sitting here and I'm listening to you sing to these, you know, ten thousand people in London and I'm just so proud of you. So go back the thirty six years to when you were a teenage kid and he called you and encouraged you in your music, and then the gift of time he poured into you in the studio and you know, I wrote a book about it. I talked about it on my show every night, the importance of changing the world one heart at a time. And I had a friend in my kitchen the other day said, I finally got it. She said, I finally got it. I said, what she goes, this whole one heart at a time thing you're talking about. She had been with me when I was interacting with some of my adopted kids and some other children that our family has kind of taken in, and she said, when you pour yourself into one person, it makes a difference. Yeah, that's that's my whole message right there, into one person like Lionel Richie did for you. The impact that has it's like that ripple, you know, the pebble in the pond. The ripples go out forever. That impact, his impact and influence on your music, your impact and your music's influence on generations of people. It just grows and builds and and it's the essence, I believe, of love and the reason we're here. Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean you can imagine when you're especially at that sort of age of seventeen or eighteen, to have someone like him say that to me, it was like a rocket, confidence and hope, like the fuel that that gave me was life changing, and I have the only thing I've been able to do for him for Lionel is tell these stories. I want everybody to know. I I tell everybody who will listen with the best part about being friendly with Lionel richees when you call him and he picks up and he goes, hello, God, he's so cute. So for years I've got to play your music, and now you're back in the studio recording again. Tell me about your new stuff, because my producer Janey came to me a couple of months ago and was so excited that I love that. I love that anybody cares. At this point, you know, it's well, that's the cool thing about the fact that I'm you know, I still get to be on the air because I've I've seen I know the stories, I've seen the history. I watched Daisy Fuentas back in the day when I had a TV on I haven't had a TV for twenty years. For you, we didn't. We never watched TV. But having that history and loving your music really cool. Well, you know, I got to a point in the last ten years i'd say where I sort of um, I felt like touring and playing concerts is really what my career is and for as long as I'm able to do it. Um, I really am a believer that records and putting song that's on the radio and all that stuff. It's really for younger people. But the conflict was that I, you know, I still write songs all the time, and I love and I love making new music and I love making records. But I did get to a point where it was a little bit like, what's like why why you know? Um? I have a couple of acquaintances who are sort of peers of mine, who were around the same age or older than me, that were popular when I was popular on the radio, and they still have this what I consider a delusion of I'm gonna have another number one record. I'm gonna and it's like, dude, no, you're not. And it's okay because you had a lot of hits. And I feel like once I determined that it really just has to be about my love of writing and recording new music and that's all that matters, then it was like, okay, well, I want to make an album. Actually, this is another great story. I found myself at a dinner at a really small dinner six or eight months ago with Chris Martin. And I've never met him before, and I'm a fan. I'm a big fan of Coldplay and what he does, and he's a really really at least from my one couple hour hang with him, he was really charming and kind and and we had a couple of really great conversations. And he asked me, so, so, I know you're touring all the time, but like, are you making a new record or anything. I said, yeah, I just I'm finishing a new album and and I said, you know, I don't know what it means for somebody like me, but and so then somebody started talking and the conversation shifted for five or ten minutes, and I could see Chris's face like like, look at me, like we're not done with that conversation. Sure enough, politely he got out of that conversation and said to me, can I go back to what you were saying, like, I'll tell you what it means for you. It's still coming through you. And it's like he said, I'm sure when you started writing songs it was about Yeah, you had a lot to prove, and you've had an incredible career, but it's still about the songs still come through us. Like, as long as the songs are still coming through us, that's what matters. And here's this guy that's, you know, much younger than I am. Then it was a really kind sweet thing to say, and it was like, yeah, man, yes, that's exactly what it's about. And so what this new music is about is me just going in and having fun and recording. And you know, the song, the single another One Down, I ended up writing with my son Lucas and he produced it. Um I wrote another song with him. I wrote several songs by myself, which I have traditionally done. Most of my stuff has been self written. But I collaborated with some new people on this record too, which was really really fun young songwriters. And and my friend Matt Scandal from the band Vertical Horizon is my best friend but also I think one of the most talented guys in the world. And and it's a very schizophrenic album, like there's there's stuff that's sort of like modern country, and then there's stuff that's like super modern pop, and then there's like it's all over the place. But the thread is my voice and it's just a collection of songs. I really really love that. I want people to hear simple as that very cool. That is pretty simple but pretty sweet. And I'm glad that that you got another one down to get to us so that we could share it with our And I love that you guys played it, that you played it well. I'm very fortunate in that, you know, there's all this research and there's all this gobbledegook that all the records or radio companies do. That that tells me who my target audience is supposed to be. Yeah, you know, they're they're big on research, and you know, imagine when you're on year, you're talking to a twenty seven year old, you know, female driving home from work, picking up her child at daycare, and and the da da da da da. But the truth is I get phone calls from young people. I get phone calls. I got a phone call the other day from somebody who lives down up Mount Shasta, off the grid. He's in his late eighties. He cuts his own firewood because his cabin, the house that he lives in is only heated with firewood, and he's like completely off the grid, and he's got this radio that he picks me up on every night when we talked for a long time, and I'm like, dude, you are so not my target audience. And I so love this conversation we're having. And so it's nice that a broad range of people get to hit to hear your music. You know, they here right here Waiting and all of your big hits every night, because they're perfect for every request and dedication anyone ever makes. I don't know if you've listened, but right Here Waiting is a song that that I used to play for couples who were getting back together or couples who had been separated by the military. Yeah, that's that was huge, especially when the song was a hit in eighty nine. You know it's go four. I met obviously many men who were deployed at the time, and they'll go, man, that was my song with my wife or my girl. And I also met a lot of widows and widowers of military personnel who died during that time, and that was their song. This one woman told me that, um, this is like a couple of years later after her husband was killed, when she got his belongings back. One of the belongings was his laptop, and she said, the screensaver or his you know, his screensaver on his computer were the lyrics to write here waiting. I mean, I I don't even know what to say to stuff like that. It's so because when you write songs from such a helfish personal place, I never I've never written a song that I thought I want to write us an anthem for the world. I want to write songs that other people can. It's I swear to you. I am so selfish about my writing. I write songs that please me, that make me feel something, that are therapy sometimes, and I hope that other people like them. That's it. So when someone says stuff like that, it's a privilege. It's such a privilege to have created something that impact someone in any way, let alone like that. I have people now that will come up to me and if they say, you know, I just want to thank you because we we used your song on our wedding. I go should have known better. So you're you're recording and you're touring, I actually don't use that word. I just do show. I do you know, sixty seventy eight shows a year all over the world, and then the next year I just do a bunch more shows. So I just play shows and it's such a blast because it's not it's not album centric. It's not I'm not promoting anything except my catalog of songs. Yeah, except now you have an album. So we should talk about a tour like I could do backup? Maybe, yeah, I could do the day. Absolutely could. You could wear this thing that Daisies were who they will, It would be an interesting take on that. Richard Marks, thank you for coming and be in here with us, always a pleasure and sharing all these great stories. Next time you see lion, will give him a kiss on the other cheek. Will sure kiss him on the right cheek, Not that I remember, but if you could, of course you remembers it is Richard Marks, thank you for sharing time loves someone with the line till I love

LOVE SOMEONE with Delilah

In a world that can feel divisive and bleak, it's easy to get caught up in feelings of hopelessness, 
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