Richard Marx Recalls Singing Backup Vocals for Lionel Richie on His Classic Hit 'All Night Long'

During an appearance on Thursday's episode of 'The Kelly Clarkson Show,' the star said Richie gave him his shot in the music industry

Those smooth backing vocals on Lionel Richie's "All Night Long"? That's Richard Marx!

During a Thursday appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the "Right Here Waiting" singer opened up about Richie's role in his career.

"My first job in the record business was singing backup vocals for [Richie] when I was 18," Marx, 60, said.

Clarkson responded, "What?! I didn't know this."

"This is a true story," he said. "So next time you hear, 'All night long, all night' — that's me."

Related: Richard Marx on Finding Love with Wife Daisy Fuentes After Divorce: 'I'm in Love in the Most Freeing Way'

Clarkson asked the singer if he always wanted to be a backup singer to collaborate with major artists — or if the goal was to go solo.

"I always wanted to be an artist, but I was getting rejected by all the labels for the first few years. To make a living, to pay my rent, I got a lot of work as a background singer," he said.

In October 2022, Marx opened up about the call he received from Richie that changed his life on the Tamron Hall Show.

"It was my senior year of high school and he said you should come to L.A. and when you come out here look me up. He gave me his number," he recalled. "A year later I graduated and I blew off college. Went out to L.A. and he invited me out to the studio. He was making his first solo record and I sang on a song called 'You Are.'"

Marx was joined on The Kelly Clarkson Show Thursday by pal Rick Springfield, whom he's performed several shows with over the years.

Related: Richard Marx Discovered an Old Song He Wrote with Keith Urban, and Decided to Finally Let It See the Light of Day

"Usually when you go with another artist, most of the time, they get together and they rehearse and it's what it is. But we've been friends for so long that we have a banter and a relationship," Springfield, 74, told Clarkson.

"We thought, if you're doing a band thing with a big loud band, most of the time when someone's talking onstage it's [muffling noises]," the "Jessie's Girl" singer added of their acoustic shows. "At an acoustic show you can actually talk to people."

"We work very blue. It's a lot of swearing. A lot of inappropriate banter in between songs," Marx added.

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