Second Cup Cafe: Richard Marx

Richard Marx, a big star in the '80s, is back with "My Own Best Enemy," his first major studio album since 1997. Marx will be performing his current single "When You're Gone" and two of his older hits ("Right Here Waiting" and "Endless Summer Nights") on The Saturday Early Show's Second Cup Café.

He will be playing acoustically with Vertical Horizon lead singer Matt Scannell.

Marx first made a name for himself with the 1987 pop/rock hit "Don't Mean Nothing." Now he's 41, married and has three children. As his official biography says, time goes by fast when you're a busy Grammy-winning songwriter/producer. For Richard Marx, the last seven years have been a time of unparalleled professional success and personal contentment. But during that same period, he worked on a cycle of songs too dark and too confessional, to keep hidden for long. Now, he has unveiled those songs on "My Own Best Enemy."

"I didn't think I'd do this again," he says. "I thought I was OK. My producing career kept me happy." The catalyst turned out to be his friend Bruce Lundvall, a music industry executive and CEO of EMI Jazz & Classics, and Manhattan Records. "We were talking a year ago," recalls Marx, "and Bruce said to me, 'Let's make a record.' I said, 'Great. Who's the artist?' He said, 'You. I'm sure you have songs to record.'"

Marx also emerged as a top producer, working with some of the biggest names in the music business. In February 2004, he won the Song of the Year Grammy for "Dance With My Father," which he wrote with Luther Vandross. It was a big night for several reasons. "It was the award itself," he says. "For me and more importantly for Luther. I was proud."

With the release of the new album, Marx is gearing up to tour, something he hasn't done in a while. "For years, I lived out of a suitcase," he says, "but I'm totally green again. Now I've got a whole new band of young musicians who will kick my ass every night. That will make me better."

Marx lives with his family in Chicago, which is where he grew up.