Children of the Night (Richard Marx song)

"Children of the Night" is a song written and recorded by Richard Marx, issued as the sixth and final single from his second album Repeat Offender. The song peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990, and was written in support of the suburban Los Angeles (Van Nuys)-based organization for runaways.

Composition
In a 2018 interview with Songfacts, Marx said:

"I was in a hotel room on tour, and I was watching 60 Minutes. There was a piece on this woman, Dr Lois Lee, who created the Children of the Night foundation, and I was just riveted by the story. The next day, I had my manager reach out to Dr Lee. We got on the phone, and I said, 'I want to help. I also think that there is a song here. But I can't remotely write this without really researching it.'

So, when I got off the road, she connected me with three or four of the kids that had been sheltered by the foundation, and had been on the streets – had been prostitutes, drug addicts, in rehab – and had their lives together. I spent a couple of days just hanging out with these kids, and they were very generous with telling me what their lives had been like. So, I wrote the lyric based upon the conversations I had with these kids. And immediately, I knew the only right thing to do was to make all of the proceeds from the song go to the foundation. Luckily, the song was a pretty big hit, and the money generated from it built a whole new shelter in Los Angeles, and I continue to support them to this day."

Track listing
All songs written Richard Marx and produced by Marx and David Cole.


 * 1) "Children of the Night" – 4:10
 * 2) "Real World" [Live at The Palace Theatre] – 4:12

Personnel

 * Richard Marx – lead and backing vocals
 * Michael Omartian – keyboards, acoustic piano
 * C.J. Vanston – keyboards
 * Michael Landau – guitars, guitar solo
 * Randy Jackson – bass
 * Prairie Prince – drums
 * Paulinho da Costa – percussion
 * Tom Scott – sax solo
 * Larry Williams – saxophones
 * Gary Grant – trumpet
 * Jerry Hey – trumpet
 * Dick Marx – horn arrangements
 * Shelley Cole – backing vocals
 * Kevin Cronin – backing vocals
 * Larry Gatlin – backing vocals
 * Rudy Gatlin – backing vocals
 * Steve Gatlin – backing vocals
 * Ruth Marx – backing vocals
 * Gene Miller – backing vocals
 * Cynthia Rhodes – backing vocals
 * Don Shelton – backing vocals
 * Terry Williams – backing vocals
 * The Children of the Night – choir