As a boy, he fantasised about Olivia Newton-John. Years later, he became one of her closest friends
Moderator - Tomas Kauer 
As a teenager, a young Richard Marx would longingly gaze at the face of Aussie legend Olivia Newton-John on her album covers.
Little did he know he would grow up to become one of her closest friends.
The American singer ended up meeting her sooner than expected, at age 19 when he had been working on the soundtrack for her film, Two of a Kind.
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"We hit it off and wrote a few songs together," he recalled.
"I was madly in love with her prior to that … When I actually met her, that feeling went into warp speed. But she was married to Matt Lattanzi and I never had a crack."
But that didn't stop him from imagining it.
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"I used to play the Xanadu soundtrack in my bedroom and sing the Cliff Richard part of Suddenly and pretend to be him. I'd close my eyes and picture Olivia looking back at me," he continued.
"Cut to 12 years ago at a charity event and I'm on the bill with Olivia. The organiser suggested we do a song together.
"Olivia asked what I wanted to sing. That night I stood on a stage under the lights and looked straight into her eyes and sang Suddenly with her. Boy it felt good."
Marx was somewhat of a prodigy, first being discovered by Lionel Richie at age 17 when the young boy's tape fell into his hands.
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Richie told him to come to Los Angeles to start his career, where he met a number of instrumental people.
He officially debuted with a self-titled album in 1987, which ended up getting four hit singles and went triple platinum.
The lead single, Don't Mean Nothing, hit No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 on Billboard's Album Rock chart. He even ended up marrying the female lead from the video, Cynthia Rhodes, but they divorced in April 2014.
He has been married to Daisy Fuentes, a Cuban-American actress and comedian, since 2015.
He continued his early career with a series of other No. 1 hits including Hazard, Right Here Waiting, Hold On to the Nights, Endless Summer Nights, and Satisfied.
He also became the only male artist in history to have his first seven singles reach the top 5 of the Billboard charts.
His latest work is the album Songwriter, released in 2022. The top-charting singer was recently in Australia for The Songwriter Tour.
In 2025, Marx became a coach on The Voice Australia, alongside Melanie C, Ronan Keating, and Kate Miller-Heidke.
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