It was a star studded night, and a moment that had been waiting for all of us Marx fans. He WON! During the night, Marx
had accompanied Dion with the piano, while she sang the song he co-wrote with Vandross "Dance with my Father." There
were some technical difficulties in the beginning, Dion couldnt hear out of her ear piece, and the mic wasnt working. Marx
graciously raised his hands so the crowd would cheer Dion on and make her feel at ease. The performance continued flawlessly,
on Marx's part :). It was 11:25pm and they were finally announcing the winner for "Best song of the year" The nominees were
called, Richard and his wife Cynthia were shown, and the winner was announced. Richard went up on stage, waited for Vandross's
manager to finish reading Luthers speech and then he spoke. Saying, "I have had the honor for the last 13 years to write songs
with Luther. My friend who I love. Who I wish was with me cause he'd be whispering to me about what everybody is wearing."
(Crowd Laughs)
"You all know how ridiculously talented he is, but what some of you don't know is that he is one of the funniest, kindest,
brightest people on the face of the earth."
"I thank the Academy for honoring not only our song Dance With My Father, but Luther himself tonight because no
one's more deserving."
"I also want to thank my beautiful wife Cynthia. My three handsome sons Brandon, Lucas, and Jesse. My Mom who is watching
in Chicago. Most of all my father. Who I know is up in heaven with Luther's father opening a bottle of champagne."
"Thank you very much."
(Crowd Applause)
He then proceeded to hold the award up, wave and walk off the stage. Backstage, Marx spoke about why Dion was able to relate
to Vandross's "Dance With My Father." "Well, you know, first of all, Celine's one of the greatest singers we have," Marx said.
"Nobody can sing it like Luther, it's Luther's song, it just embodies Luther. But Celine also can really, it resonates with
her because her father just passed away recently."
Marx accompanied Dion on piano for their special performance of "Dance With My Father," and backstage, Marx spoke about
playing through some obvious technical glitches. "Hey, I'm just glad I didn't screw up the notes, you know," Marx said. "I
was okay, Celine was amazing. It totally fazed her, she was a basket case after the song until I said, 'I promise you you
were awesome.' She just, she couldn't hear a thing. I mean, she's such a pro, it's amazing."
