Stories to tell A memoir
Book - 2021
"Legendary musician Richard Marx offers an enlightening, entertaining look at his life and career. Richard Marx is one of the most accomplished singer-songwriters in the history of popular music. His self-titled 1987 album went triple platinum and made him the first male solo artist (and second solo artist overall after Whitney Houston) to have four singles from their debut crack the top three on the Billboard Hot 100. His follow-up, 1989's Repeat Offender, was an even bigger smash, going quadruple platinum and landing two singles at number one. He has written fourteen number one songs in total, shared a Song of the Year Grammy with Luther Vandross, and collaborated with a variety of artists including NSYNC, Josh Groban, Natalie C...ole, and Keith Urban. Lately, he's also become a Twitter celebrity thanks to his outspokenness on social issues and his ability to out-troll his trolls. In Stories to Tell, Marx uses this same engaging, straight-talking style to look back on his life and career. He writes of how Kenny Rogers changed a single line of a song he'd written for him then asked for a 50% cut --which inspired Marx to write one of his biggest hits. He tells the uncanny story of how he wound up curled up on the couch of Olivia Newton-John, his childhood crush, watching Xanadu. He shares the tribulations of working with the all-female hair metal band Vixen and appearing in their video. Yet amid these entertaining celebrity encounters, Marx offers a more sobering assessment of the music business as he's experienced it over four decades -- the challenges of navigating greedy executives and grueling tour schedules, and the rewards of connecting with thousands of fans at sold-out shows that make all the drama worthwhile. He also provides an illuminating look at his songwriting process and talks honestly about how his personal life has inspired his work, including finding love with wife Daisy Fuentes and the mystery illness that recently struck him -- and that doctors haven't been able to solve. Stories to Tell is a remarkably candid, wildly entertaining memoir about the art and business of music." --
- Subjects
- Genres
- Autobiographies
- Published
-
New York, NY :
Simon & Schuster
2021.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Edition
- First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition
- Physical Description
- ix, 309 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm
- ISBN
- 9781982169428
9781982169435
- Prologue October 2019
- 1. Where Do I Begin? 1
- 2. "I Wanna Be Free"
- 3. "The One You Need"
- 4. "You Are"
- 5. "Crazy"
- 6. "Guilty" (Barbra, Part I)
- 7. "She's a Beauty"
- 8. "White Heat"
- 9. "Should've Known Better"
- 10. "Manhunt"
- 11. "Somebody Loves You"
- 12. "If I Turn You Away"
- 13. "Endless Summer Nights"
- 14. "Don't Mean Nothing"
- 15. "Hold On to the Nights"
- 16. Riding the Speedwagon
- 17. "Edge of a Broken Heart"
- 18. "Burning of the Heart" (The Richard Marx Amendment)
- 19. "Right Here Waiting" (Barbra, Part II)
- 20. "Angelia"
- 21. The Elvis Incident
- 22. "You're the Voice"
- 23. The Tale of Taipei
- 24. It's a Boy, It's a Boy, It's a Boy
- 25. "Keep Coming Back"
- 26. "Hazard"
- 27. "Suddenly"
- 28. Elton and the Disappearing Tooth
- 29. "I'll Never Fall in Love Again"
- 30. "The Way She Loves Me"
- 31. Oprah, O. J., and Me
- 32. "Through My Veins"
- 33. "The One That Got Away"
- 34. "If You Ever Leave Me" (Barbra, Part III)
- 35. "This I Promise You"
- 36. "To Where You Are" (The Mistake That Went to Number 1)
- 37. "Dance with My Father"
- 38. The Perfect Man's Imperfection
- 39. "Gone Country"
- 40. "Better Life"
- 41. A Successful Marriage
- 42. "Eyes on Me"
- 43. "Always"
- 44. "Limitless"
- Epilogue November 2020
- Acknowledgments