BY MELISSA RUGGIERI/AJC Music Scene

Fans are used to the musical cross-pollinations of bands such as Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire sharing a bill and a stage.

But, as Richard Marx noted in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week , it's tougher for solo acts to find a like-minded and similar fan-demographic partner (can we name any artists who succeeded at this other than Billy Joel and Elton John?).

All hail the manager who prodded pals Marx and Rick Springfield – who have known each other for three decades and are both Malibu dwellers – to take their joint act on the road last December.

The twosome has played a few pockets of dates in the ensuing year, and on Tuesday brought their hits-packed gig to Atlanta Symphony Hall ( they play in Augusta on Wednesday ), where they engaged a primarily female audience – of varying degrees of inebriation and chattiness – for nearly three hours.