Ravinia 2026 Issue 5

HUNTERPAVILION 7:00 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 , 2026 ROD STEWART † with special guest RICHARD MARX Richard Marx – – Rod Stewart † Ravinia debut ROD STEWART Sir Rod Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with more than million albums and singles sold worldwide. His signa- ture voice, style, and songwriting have coursed through all genres of popular music—from rock, soul, and R&B to the standards and big band swing—making him one of the few stars to enjoy chart-topping albums in every decade of a career that spans more than years. Born in North London with Scottish roots, Stewart rst made his mark in the s with Long John Baldry, Steampacket, Shotgun Express, Je Beck, and Faces. He then launched a solo career that produced some of the biggest hits in music history, including “Maggie May,” “For- ever Young,” “Rhythm of My Heart,” “Tonight’s the Night,” “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” “You Wear It Well,” and “Da Ya ink I’m Sexy.” e s saw Stewart record ve acclaimed volumes of his Great American Songbook se- ries, the biggest-selling ongoing series of new music recordings in history. His rekindled love of songwriting continued with four studio al- bums of original songs, beginning with ’s Time , which reached the top in the US and countries worldwide, including number one in the UK. In addition, Stewart revisited some of his greatest hits on You’re in My Heart: Rod Stewart with the Royal Philharmonic Orches- tra , which spent three weeks at number one in the UK. In , Stewart released Swing Fever , his rd studio album and a collaboration with Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orches- tra—the sparkling salute to the timeless big band era became his th career UK chart-top- per, placing him alongside David Bowie, Taylor Swi , and U for the most number-one albums in his home nation. He has earned the music industry’s highest honors, including two in- ductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the ASCAP Founders Award for songwriting, the Grammys’ Living Legend Award, the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mu- sic, UK Music Hall of Fame, a star on the Hol- lywood Walk of Fame, and American Music Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award. In , Stewart was bestowed his most treasured honor when he was knighted at Buckingham Palace for his services to music and charity. Rod Stew- art is making his Ravinia debut. RICHARDMARX As a performer, songwriter and producer, Rich- ard Marx has had innumerable highlights over his nearly three-decade-long career. e Chica- go native has sold more than million albums worldwide, starting with his eponymous debut, which charted up to number eight and spawned four top- ve singles, including the number-one smash “Hold on to the Nights,” with “Don’t Mean Nothing” earning him a Grammy nomi- nation for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Its follow-up, ’s Repeat O ender , was even more successful, reaching the summit of Bill- board ’s top albums chart and going qua- druple-Platinum on the strength of its two number-one singles, “Satis ed” and “Right Here Waiting.” When both Rush Street ( ), with the number-one adult contemporary chart darlings “Keep Coming Back” and “Hazard,” and Paid Vacation ( ), also featuring a number-one AC hit in “Now and Forever,” went Platinum, Marx achieved a seven-year string of triumphs that rivaled any in pop-rock music history. For many artists, that might have been enough to rest laurels on, but Marx then launched into a second successful career as a songwriter and producer with songs like “To Where You Are,” the rst hit single from Josh Groban’s debut album, and the N*Sync smash “ is I Promise You.” He earned a Song of the Year Grammy in for co-authoring Luther Vandross’s “Dance with My Father,” and he has also written with and for such artists as Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, Celine Dion, Chicago, Natalie Cole, Kenny Loggins, Vince Gill, Daughtry, e Tubes, Martina McBride, Life- house, and Michael Bolton. All told, Marx has been party to number-one singles, including Keith Urban’s “Long Hot Summer,” across his guises as a performer and songwriter/producer, making him one of only a handful of artists who have had chart-topping hits in each of the past four decades. Marx tapped into several of these connections for his album Songwriter . Earlier this year, he released Af- ter Hours , a collection of jazz standards (featuring Rod Stewart on the Sinatra staple “Young at Heart”) and original songs in that classic style, which made the top of Billboard ’s jazz album charts. Richard Marx rst played Ravinia in and tonight makes his rst return to the festival. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 81 PENNY LANCASTER (STEWART); BRANDON MARX (MARX)