RICHARD Marx has sold 30 million albums since the '80s with hits like Right Here Waiting, Now and Forever and Hazard.
In an era when MTV reigned supreme, Marx's model good looks and mullet were a regular fixture on our TV screens.
Australia was among the US soft-rocker's most successful markets. His second album Repeat Offender topped the ARIA charts in 1989 and his self-titled debut and Paid Vacation both cracked the top 10.
While Marx's commercial success has waned since the mid '90s, he has remained a potent songwriter, lending his talents to other artists. Marx has written a No.1 single in each of the last four decades, a feat only Michael Jackson achieved.
Those hits include To Where You Are for Josh Groban, NSYNC's This I Promise You, Kenny Rogers' Crazy and Keith Urban's No. 1 Long Hot Summer.
Marx has always identified as a songwriter, over a performer or entertainer. It was from this mindset that he produced his 13th album Songwriter. The 20-track album is basically four EPs, exploring pop, country, rock and ballads.
Across his career Marx has diversified his songwriting for other artists, but Songwriter is the first opportunity he's had to experiment in multiple lanes for himself.
"My albums historically have tended to be a couple of co-writes and then I write the bulk of my material," Marx says.
"I wrote with a couple of people that I have history with and who I've written many songs with, but I also made a point, especially on the pop stuff, to write with younger people who I hadn't worked with that much."
Marx co-wrote with greats like Keith Urban and Burt Bacharach, but also with lesser known artists, including two of his three sons, Lucas and Jesse.
Early in his career Marx worked with his late father Dick Marx, who was a jazz pianist and arranger. Marx senior famously arranged the strings for his son's final top-10 hit Now and Forever.
"Working with my father in the studio was a really wonderful experience," he says.
"But you have this situation where I'm writing songs, creating songs from scratch with two of my sons - and I'm sure I'll work with [eldest son] Brandon at some point down the road - and really leaning on them.
"I didn't find myself having the inclination to takeover or have control. It was quite the opposite. I wanted to learn from them because I love what they do."
While he enjoys co-writing, Marx is no fan of songwriting by committee, the modern trend in pop.
"I'm always baffled by that," he says. "I know that's the industry standard now.
"If you see a Beyonce song or a Justin Beiber song and you look at credits, there's going to be six, seven or 10 or 15 writers on the song. As a songwriter I don't know how that's possible?"
Richard Marx plays NEX in Newcastle on Wednesday.
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