The No. 1 Song On August 13, 1989 Sounds Even More Earnest Today
On August 13, 1989, the No. 1 song in the U.S. was an '80s love song that sounds even more emotional today because it was written and originally recorded from a place of honesty, emotional discomfort, and sweetness. A mature and romantic song with very sparse instrumentation destined to live forever on light rock radio, "Right Here Waiting" by rocker-turned-balladeer Richard Marx is one of the products of the '80s that we just don't see anymore. But for three weeks in August 1989, it was the biggest hit in the country and Marx's third straight No. 1.
Producers didn't bury the song in tons of studio tricks or unnecessary sounds, preferring to let the emotions of the tender song and the way that Marx conveyed them be the selling point of "Right Here Waiting." Written during a time of romantic difficulty, Marx wrote what he felt and sang from the heart. Here's how "Right Here Waiting" became a No. 1 hit, even after Marx didn't want to release it because it was just too special to him.
Richard Marx wrote Right Here Waiting for his wife
"Right Here Waiting" may have been one of the songs that helped soft rock burn out, but in the summer of 1989, it was an undeniable smash, and it wasn't even supposed to be publicly heard. Marx had already written a ballad for his "Repeat Offender" LP when he faced a real-world heartache so severe that he had to process his pain through music. For three months, Marx was on a concert tour while his then-wife, actor Cynthia Rhodes, was off filming a movie in Africa. The distance so upset Marx that he took all of 10 minutes to turn his torment into "Right Here Waiting."
Then he recorded it and sent it as an audio love letter to Rhodes. "I didn't hear it as being a song I wanted to share with the world," he told Interview Factory (via Fred Bronson's "The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits"). "It was way too personal." Some close associates happened to hear the song, and they loved it so much that Marx changed his mind. "I realized that part of my job as a songwriter is to communicate with as many people as I can, and something that is that personal to me may be just as personal to somebody else," he said on "Countdown America" (via "The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits").
And resonate it did. It took "Right Here Waiting" just over a month from entering the Hot 100 to topping it.