Hey Gang,

Time to jump into the Way-back machine and head to 1987.  It was the year that an artist debuted that would effect the world of music for the next four decades.

Richard Marx was his name, and his hair looked like a safety helmet.  But, big hair issues aside, the man could sing and write like an idiot savant.

His first single out of the gate, according to Richard, could've been on the Eagles "The Long Run" LP.  The main reason was that he had Joe Walsh playing guitar on the track, and other Eagles, Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmit, doing backing vocals.

The hit had a nice "classic" sound to it, but Mr. Marx would become more famous for his ballads.  For the next four decades Richard would either write, or co-write, songs that went to the top of the charts.  Some of the other artist that would take his songs to the top include Luther Vandross, NSYNC, and Keith Urban.

The video for "Don't Mean Nothing" was something on it's own.  It starred a young, gorgeous Cynthia Rhodes, who had starred with some big names in Hollywood, including John Travolta in "Staying Alive", Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons in the Sci-Fi classic "Runaway", oh and with Patrick Swayze in "Dirty Dancing".  She was also in the 80's band Annimotion for a while.  In 1989 she got married and quite show business to be a stay at home mother.  You might recognize her husband, it's a guy called Richard Marx.

The video has Cynthia coming to Hollywood and being disgusted by all the "sleaze" around her, and by how much it doesn't seem to bother anyone else.  The sleazy landlord is played by veteran actor G.W. Baily, who was also in the movie "Runaway" with Cynthia, but is probably most recognized as Lt. Thaddeus Harris in the "Police Academy" movies. TV fans will recognize him from "The Closer" and "Major Crimes".

 

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