VIDEO: Ryan Seacrest Performs with Richard Marx on AMERICAN IDOL Finale

American Idol host Ryan Seacrest valiantly broke his singing silence Wednesday, May 21, to perform the iconic Richard Marx song, "Right Here Waiting," with the singer himself, Richard Marx. The duet, kept under wraps for weeks, was one of the highlights of the show's finale. View the performance below!

"Right Here Waiting" was also performed by contestant James Harrington, on the season finale of The Voice. The song reached number 6 on iTunes the following day.

The Voice performance was the beginning of a big week for Richard Marx. On May 20th pre-orders of his upcoming new album, Beautiful Goodbye began, on the 21st he performed with Seacrest on the American Idol finale, and on May 22 his first single from Beautiful Goodbye, "Whatever We Started," is available on iTunes. Also on May 22nd, the world premiere of the video for "Whatever We Started" will debut on Idolator.com.

For a preview of the video, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4ClbmioKkw. Beautiful Goodbye, Marx's first studio album of all new material in 10 years, will be released July 8th by Kobalt Label Services (KLS).

Fans may find Beautiful Goodbye is a bit of a departure from Marx's previous albums. According to Marx, he set out to make a deliberately sexy album. "The songs on this record were influenced greatly by everyone from Sade to Bebel Gilberto to various EDM artists to even Chopin. I'm known for romantic music in the past, but this music I wrote is all more sensual and cinematic, and the lyrics are more adventurous than I've been willing to go in the past."

Every track on the new album also incorporates an orchestral element, and the recording of the tracks was, according to Marx, "a thrill beyond anything I've done in the studio. Singing these songs brought out what I believe are the most effortless vocals of my recording career, so far."

The tracks on Beautiful Goodbye are written and produced by Marx except "Getaway," co-written and produced with Walter Afanasieff; "Forgot To Remember" co-written with Vertical Horizon frontman and frequent Marx collaborator, Matt Scannell; "Turn Off The Night" co-written with multi-hit songwriter David Hodges; and the title track, co-written with Daisy Fuentes. A special edition of Beautiful Goodbye will also be available featuring two additional songs including "Moscow Calling," a collaboration between Marx and well-known EDM artist and DJ Morgan Page.

Marx's last album of all new material, My Own Best Enemy, was released in 2004 featuring hits "When You're Gone" and "Ready to Fly." In 2011, he released Stories To Tell, a greatest hits album and in 2012 he released his first Christmas album, Christmas Spirit.

In the last few years Marx has also found time to write for other artists, most recently Keith Urban (with whom he scored Urban's #1 smash "Long Hot Summer"), Jennifer Nettles, Sara Bareilles and the upcoming release by Vince Gill. Across all formats, he has scored an amazing total of 14 number one singles, both as a performer and a songwriter/producer, making him a true multi-talented threat who continues to challenge himself and his fans. He holds the honor of being one of a handful of artists who have had a number one hit in each of the past four decades. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.

For more about Beautiful Goodbye go to:
http://richardmarx.com/