STORIES TO TELL

The veteran singer/songwriter recalls (and defends) his numerous adult-contemporary triumphs.

As Marx argues in this sometimes-flinty memoir, people who narrowly recall him as the purveyor of such late-1980s hits as “Hold on to the Nights” have got him all wrong. Better to think of him as a lifelong behind-the-scenes songwriter who had a brief blip as a chart-topping balladeer. It’s a fair point. He describes catching the songwriting bug from his father, a hardworking Chicago jazz musician and jingle writer, then parlaying background-singer gigs into songwriting credits for the likes of Kenny Rogers, Paul Anka, and Barbra Streisand. In his post-spotlight years, he quietly became a go-to writer for the likes of NSYNC, Luther Vandross, and Keith Urban. Being known solely as a ballad writer “kind of pisses me off,” he writes, but evidence in his defense is slim; even his friskiest tunes are largely middle-of-the-road. But if Marx dwells obsessively on his status, he has the occasional good anecdote to share. He opens by recalling touring in late 2019 while battling an aggressive respiratory infection (not Covid-19); singing the national anthem for a huge TV audience at the opening of the 1994 World Cup only to be interrupted by the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase; and, most harrowingly, being forced to play two concerts in a day at the urging of a Taiwanese mobster, effectively under threat of death. Marx thoughtfully explores his process writing both melodies and music, but as a man whose livelihood depends on the charts, he can’t stop keeping an eye on where he stands. Perhaps that’s why he gets oddly snappish toward Brad Paisley (“the poster boy for pandering”) for saying pop acts don’t care about song craft. For a pro like Marx, that’s practically stealing food off his plate.

A swaggering, sometimes prickly soft-rock self-assessment.