{{short description|American musician}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Dick Marx | birth_name = Richard Henry Marx | alias = Richard Marx Sr. | birth_date = {{birth date|1924|4|12}} | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, US<ref>Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates, 1878-1938</ref> | death_date = {{death date and age|1997|8|12|1924|4|12}} | death_place = Highland Park, Illinois, US | genre = Jazz, pop, rock | occupation = Musician, arranger, composer | instrument = Piano | years_active = 1950s–1997 | associated_acts = Richard Marx }}
'''Richard Henry Marx''' (April 12, 1924 – August 12, 1997) was an American jazz pianist and arranger. He also composed for film, television, and commercials.
==Personal life== Marx and his wife, Ruth (née Guildoo) had a son, Richard Marx, pop singer, songwriter, and record producer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raroyalties.org/japanese/albumtitles.html?partic=5083 |title=Ruth Guildoo Marx Royalties |access-date=2009-04-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727201523/http://www.raroyalties.org/japanese/albumtitles.html?partic=5083 |archive-date=2011-07-27 }}</ref> Marx also had two daughters and a son, from a previous marriage.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/14/classified/paid-notice-deaths-marx-richard-h-dick.html|title=Dick Marx's Death Notice| access-date=2009-04-05 | work=The New York Times | date=August 14, 1997 }}</ref> He was of German Jewish descent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0304/grammies2004.php3|title=Grammy Jews|website=www.jewishworldreview.com|access-date=May 25, 2021|archive-date=March 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301165008/http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0304/grammies2004.php3|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://twitter.com/richardmarx/status/976174257699946496?lang=en| title = Richard Marx on Twitter: "My grandfather was a Jew from Frankfurt who lost family in the camps and still the fact that this comedian is being jailed in the UK should frighten all of us." / Twitter}}</ref>
==Career== Marx played piano in childhood. He got his professional start playing in nightclubs in Chicago.<ref name="Hogan">{{cite web |last1=Hogan |first1=Ed |title=Dick Marx |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dick-marx-mn0001365654/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=1 October 2018}}</ref> In the 1950s, he accompanied singer Helen Merrill and released several albums.
Beginning in the 1960s, he spent three decades in advertising, writing commercial jingles for Dial soap, Kellogg's Raisin Bran cereal, Ken-L Ration dog food, Nestle's Crunch candy bars, Arm & Hammer baking soda, Virginia Slims cigarettes, La Choy Chinese food, the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, and many more. His son Richard and wife Ruth sang on some of the commercials.
Dick Marx also composed a theme for news programs on WBBM-TV in 1975 that would eventually expand to other local stations owned and operated by CBS and used in different arrangements over nearly 50 years before the network introduced a new theme that aligned with its current branding.<ref name="cbstheme">{{Cite web |title=Exclusive: Inside the rebranding of CBS-owned local stations |url=https://www.newscaststudio.com/2023/01/05/cbs-television-stations-branding-design/?og=1 |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=NewscastStudio | date=5 January 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref> In the 1980s, he moved to Los Angeles and composed music for the films ''A League of Their Own'' and ''Edwards and Hunt'' and the television program ''Fudge''. He also performed the horn arrangements on his son's song "Children of the Night".
== Death == Marx died in 1997 in Highland Park, Illinois, from injuries caused by a car accident in Las Vegas.<ref name="Hogan" />
==Discography== ===As leader=== * ''Too Much Piano'' (Brunswick, 1955) * ''Dick Marx Piano'' (Coral, 1957) * ''Marx Makes Broadway'' with Buddy Collette (VSOP, 1957) * ''Delicate Savagery'' (Coral, 1958)<ref name="AM credits">{{cite web |title=Dick Marx {{!}} Credits {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dick-marx-mn0001365654/credits |website=AllMusic |access-date=1 October 2018}}</ref> *''You Haven't Seen the USA Until You've Seen Chicago! (DMA, 1968) written by Dick Marx, Paul Severson & Eric Stigler''
===As sideman or guest musician=== '''With Johnny Frigo''' * ''I Love John Frigo...He Swings'' (Mercury, 1957)
'''With Eddie Harris''' * ''Eddie Harris Goes to the Movies'' (Vee-Jay, 1962)
'''With Helen Merrill''' * ''The Nearness of You'' (EmArcy, 1958)
'''With Ken Nordine''' * ''Word Jazz'' (Dot, 1957) * ''Son of Word Jazz'' (Dot, 1958) * ''Love Words'' (Dot, 1958) * ''Next!'' (Dot, 1959)<ref name="AM credits" />
'''With others''' * 1957 ''The Singing Reed'', Lucy Reed * 1987 ''Richard Marx'', Richard Marx * 1992 ''S'Wonderful'', George Gershwin * 1992 ''The Gershwin Songbook: 'S Wonderful'', George Gershwin * 1995 ''Pee Wee King and His Golden West Cowboys'', Pee Wee King & His Golden West Cowboys * 1995 ''The Complete Gershwin Songbooks'', George Gershwin * 1997 ''America's Song Butchers: The Weird World of Homer & Jethro'', Homer and Jethro * 2006 ''Blue Suede Shoes: Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight'', Pee Wee King<ref name="AM credits" />
===As arranger or conductor=== * 1989 ''Repeat Offender'', Richard Marx * 1994 ''Have a Little Faith'', Joe Cocker * 1996 ''Kissing Rain'', Roch Voisine * 1997 ''Across from Midnight'', Joe Cocker * 1997 ''Flesh & Bone'', Richard Marx<ref name="AM credits" /> * 1993 ''Art Of Life'', X Japan
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Marx, Dick}} Category:1924 births Category:1997 deaths Category:American film score composers Category:American jazz pianists Category:American male jazz pianists Category:Richard Marx Category:20th-century American classical musicians Category:20th-century American composers Category:20th-century American pianists Category:American male film score composers Category:Road incident deaths in Illinois Category:American people of German-Jewish descent Category:Musicians from Chicago Category:20th-century American male composers Category:20th-century American male pianists