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Stories to Tell
Stories to Tell: A Memoir | Richard Marx
2 posts | 2 read | 1 to read
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, 1989s 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 Cole, and Keith Urban. Lately, hes 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 hed written for him then asked for a 50% cutwhich 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 hes experienced it over four decadesthe 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 himand that doctors havent been able to solve. Stories to Tell is a remarkably candid, wildly entertaining memoir about the art and business of music.
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booklover3258
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Pickpick

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/Fi0ljQtzWM0

Enjoy!

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robinb
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Mehso-so

Disclaimer: I RARELY read biographies/memoirs. However, when I saw this was from one of my very favorite singers from the 80s/90s, I couldn‘t resist…Richard Marx, right?! Unfortunately, the book turned out to be more of a chore than a joy for me.
PROS: The man is PROLIFIC, both in writing his own songs and those recorded by others, and there were many interesting stories behind all of them…how they came to be, what was going on in his life at 🔻

robinb the time, the who‘s who of those he‘s met and worked with during his career. I learned that he has written SO many hit songs for others and considers himself foremost a songwriter even though he also enjoys his time in the spotlight on stage.
CONS: Some repetitive points throughout, and the skipping around with the timeline could be hard to follow.
On a personal level, I found his rare mention of his wife of 25+ years 🔻
(edited) 3y
robinb and the mother of his three children a little sad. As an actress, she was successful in her own right and gave up her career to be their primary caregiver as he was on the road constantly. His relationship with his current wife of 5 years (of whom he became aware in the early 90s when he bought her “sexy” calendar) is lauded as the “deepest and most rewarding” of his life. He mentions that he has 🔻 3y
robinb always been able to “will” things/people to come to him throughout his life, and his meeting her was one of these events. But I think what disappointed me most from this memoir is that I found him arrogant, and I never expected that. I give the book 3 stars (I‘m sure others will enjoy), but unfortunately, I came away disillusioned about him…NOT his music. 😊 (edited) 3y
See All 9 Comments
HeyT Oooh he's one of my mom's favorite artists and she always tells me about what she's seen on his insta and stuff I'll have to let her know about this one. The one thing she always says is how weird it is you never hear about his first wife like she just seemed to disappear from the public. 3y
robinb @HeyT I‘m sure she will enjoy it, especially as she is a fan of his music. He has some really beautiful ballads! And yes, while it‘s none of my business what happened in his first marriage, I felt bad that there wasn‘t much mention of her at all. I really enjoyed her in Dirty Dancing. 😊 (edited) 3y
HeyT I asked her if she had heard about this book and she was like “oh yeah I just didn't mention it because it isn't out yet“ So apparently she has already made plans for when it comes out! 3y
robinb @HeyT 👍👍 Would love to hear what she thinks. 3y
Reggie Yeah, I was shocked and saddened when I heard he married Daisy Fuentes. I had wondered what happened to Cynthia Rhodes. 3y
robinb @Reggie Actually I can't find mention of her in the past few years. She must be living a low-profile life. Hope she's happy. :) 3y
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