In the 1970s and 1980s, there were often rumors of gangsters forcing artists to perform in the entertainment circles of Hong Kong and Taiwan, and recently, some American stars also revealed that they had been forced to perform by Taiwanese gangsters - this person was Richard Marx, a "love song prince" who was popular all over the world with a song "This Is Waiting", he first disclosed in the upcoming memoir "Stories to Tell", in 1990, he first went to Taiwan to sing, and was blackmailed and forced to perform by "gangster big brother" with guns.
Marx's "This Love Is Just Around" is a love song classic. (Image source: Richard Marx Facebook)
Taipei China Times News Network reported that Rolling Stone magazine took the lead in disclosing the "Taipei Story" chapter of Richard Max's new book on June 30, and Max recalled that when he toured the world with his second best-selling album "Repeat Offender", when he was preparing to sing at Taipei's Xinyi Happy Square, a sudden rainstorm smashed the outdoor performance venue, so the performance team canceled the performance for safety reasons. This caused dissatisfaction from many parties, including one of the gold lords behind the concert, the Chen gang.
Max writes that the gangsters were carrying machine guns and ran into the hotel where they were staying, hijacked and blockaded the entire hotel, holding a gun to the head of band member Randy and blackmailing Marx over the phone, "either immediately promising to perform two shows tomorrow regardless of the weather, or shooting him in one shot."
Marx then called the hotel front desk, originally wanted to find the US Embassy for help, but did not expect the other party to reply "Consulate? No, there is no consulate in Taipei." His hopes were dashed, so he had to compromise with the underworld.
"Of course, I agreed, telling him that as long as I didn't hurt Randy, I would do whatever he said." Márquez hung up the phone with a pale face, incredulous at what had happened, "as if in a strange and uneasy dream, waiting for something to wake us up."
After the negotiation, Max returned to his room and found that the door had been kicked open, and someone had broken into the room and rummaged through it, but fortunately the valuables had not been taken away. In response, he speculated that the gangsters had told his room number to the "fans".
The next day, Marx, still distraught, completed the performance as instructed and left Taiwan safely.
China Times News Network pointed out that Max's first concert on the stage that year "released pigeons" caused an uproar, the reasons for stopping singing were diverse, some people speculated that it was a venue problem, some reported that the singer "played a big card", and there was also a saying that there was a crazy song lost control. He "made up the singing" the next day, and no one expected it to be because of the intervention of the underworld.
In 2010, Marx went to Taiwan again to sing, and at that time, he did not explain the "release of pigeons" 20 years ago. Now, after 30 years, the inside story has been revealed, which has aroused heated discussion among music fans.
Cover of the memoir StoriestoTell. (Image source: Official website of Simon & Schuster, publisher)
According to public information, Richard Max was born in Chicago in September 1963, went to Los Angeles after graduating from college in 1982 to pursue his musical dreams, and became a hit in 1987 with his self-titled album "Richard Marx". He then released his second album, Repeat Offender, in which the single "Right Here Waiting" was played on the piano, and the soothing melody quickly became popular around the world, earning Max the title of "Prince of Love Songs".
It is worth mentioning that in January 1999, Max held concerts in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Beijing's Guangming Daily said he was the first American pop singer to go to the mainland to give a concert after the founding of New China.
In recent years, he has often been outspoken on Twitter about social issues and has become an influencer on social platforms.
According to the official website of the publisher Simon & Schuster, the memoir "Stories to Tell" looks back at Marx's career and personal life, including a love affair with his wife, Cuban actress Daisy Fuentes. His writing style is still frank and direct, revealing many behind-the-scenes stories. It is reported that the title of the memoir is taken from his self-titled album launched in 2010. (End)