Richard Marx Reveals That Rod Stewart Once Refused To Sing His Song

Rod Stewart managed to become one of the world’s best-selling singers with distorted, gritty vocal tunes that give his voice its character. He sang the songs that many people would struggle with, knowing how to use the nodes on his vocal cords very well. However, as Richard Marx revealed in his recent interview with Louder Sound, when he offered Stewart a song in the 1990s, he turned it down, saying he couldn’t handle it.

“Rod [Stewart],” he replied when asked for a name he wished would record one of his songs. “Back in the 1990s, I sent him a song called ‘Chains Around My Heart’ that I recorded myself. He sent back a note that said: ‘Lovely song, mate. I’d love to do it, but I can’t hit those f*cking notes.’”

After Rod Stewart turned down his offer, Richard Marx gave ‘Chains Around My Heart’ to Australian singer John Farnham. It was released as the B-side of his 1990 single ‘Burn For You.’ A year later, Marx recorded his own version of the song. As for this version, it was released as one of the singles from his third studio album ‘Rush Street.’

Richard Marx released a new album, ‘Songwriter,’ at the end of last September. The album has a long personnel list, and one of the names is Taylor Hawkins. A month before Hawkins died, he played drums on ‘Shame On You.’ The track was one of the hardest rock songs on the album, and Marx wrote it with his son.

As for Rod Stewart, he’s still on stage. Most recently, he released his thirty-first studio album ‘The Tears of Hercules,’ in November 2021, entering his 60th year on his musical journey. The 77-year-old singer is currently touring the United Kingdom with a busy schedule.