Barbra Streisand turned down the opportunity to record Richard Marx’s classic hit Right Here Waiting.
The star was a young singer/songwriter when the Evergreen hitmaker reached out and asked him to write her a hit.
And while he sent her the track – which went on to become a massive hit for him in the late ‘80s – the music legend wasn’t 100 per cent happy with the end result and ultimately declined.
He told ‘The Talk’: “I had just recently written Right Here Waiting and it was such a personal song to me at the time that I had no intention of recording it.
“I was like, ‘I’ll give Barbra Streisand Right Here Waiting; I’m not gonna do anything with it’.
“I had to messenger the cassette tape of it to her. The next day she called me – I still have this voicemail… – and it says, ‘Richard, I heard the song; it’s a beautiful song, but I’m gonna need you to rewrite the lyrics because I’m not gonna be right here waiting for anyone.
“She actually did me a solid, because had she not rejected it I probably would never have recorded it and every once in a while I put my arm around her and I say, ‘Thank you so much for rejecting my song!'”
Right Here Waiting has been covered by numerous stars, including Bonnie Tyler, Jason Donovan and Monica.
Richard’s revelation comes as Barbra prepares to drop her new album ‘Release Me 2’, featuring outtakes from her celebrated career including new collaborations with Barry Gibb and Willie Nelson.
In the album notes, the singer writes: “For me, the studio is a combination musical playground and laboratory… a private sanctuary, where the possibility of catching lightning in a bottle always exists.
“Whenever that kind of magic happens, it’s extremely satisfying. Sometimes though, when the arrangement doesn’t quite gel or the song no longer fits the tone of the album it was meant for, the tapes go into the vault for safekeeping.”
“Working on this 2nd volume of Release Me has been a lovely walk down memory lane,” she adds. “A chance to revisit, and in some cases, add a finishing instrumental touch to songs that still resonate for me in meaningful ways.”
