Marx later played and sang backing vocals on an album for Richie. “The rest, my man … I just made that s–t up.” Lionel Richie was Marx’s first mentor, convincing him to get out of Chicago and move to LA to start his music career. “Jambo is Swahili for ‘hello,’ ” Richie told him, before leaning in close. Hey, jambo jumbo” - a job he got as a young backup singer.ĭuring a break in the recording, Marx approached Richie and asked what the lyrics meant. Remember the chant in Lionel Richie’s 1983 smash “All Night Long (All Night)?” That’s actually Marx and two others singing, “Tam bo li de say de moi ya.

In fact, Marx has had more success than many casual fans may know, due to an almost Forrest Gump-like ability early in his career to pop up at major musical moments. Richard Marx in 1989 at the height of his solo career. 1 songs both as a solo artist and a writer for many others. He’s rich, happily married to former MTV veejay Daisy Fuentes, and at peace with his place in music history, which has included 14 No. But as his new book “ Stories to Tell: A Memoir” (Simon & Schuster), out Tuesday, makes clear, the singer-songwriter is having the last laugh. No amount of success is an inoculation against the trolls.

‘You mean like this kind of washed up?’ ” “Whenever I get called ‘washed up,’ I tweet a picture of my beach house. “My favorite is ‘washed up,’ ” Marx, 57, tells The Post. That exchange was typical for hit musician Marx, whose detractors regularly creep out of the digital mud to make cracks about his 1980s mullet and ask, “Where is he now?” Marx quickly fired back: “Yours are ‘has not been.’ ” “Richard’s pronouns are has/been,” tweeted a critic by the name of Jake Coco. Ed Sheeran on ‘horrible’ month: ‘Life hasn’t moved on for me yet’Īerosmith plans farewell tour amid Steven Tyler sexual-assault allegationsĬlassic rock legend dead at 71 - just months after his brotherĪ few weeks ago, yet another Twitter troll tried to come at Richard Marx.

Simon and schuster sing you home