Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Craig Greenberg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Craig, thanks for joining us today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Well I think it takes many things, but if I had to pick one personality trait that enabled *me* to get somewhere, I would say it’s resilience.
You get knocked around all the time in this business, and take rejection constantly. You have to be thick-skinned, and be able to take the hits and keep going. Actually, you need to be motivated by the hits! It can be very challenging and I know many talented people who gave up before they got their due.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a singer-songwriter and musician (mainly known as a piano player, though I do write and perform on guitar as well). I’ve been recording and performing my original music for over 20 years in NYC, though I got my start as a working musician while living abroad in Chile and Spain. I’ve independently released 5 albums, and have my 6th on the way (due in late 2025). I tour nationally and internationally, and have had my music played on radio stations all around the country, as well as locally in New York on WFUV.

I guess what makes me unique, or at least, rare, these days, is that there’s a good degree of musicality to my work. While the song is always the focus, I enjoy showcasing musicianship as well. I also try to write in a range of styles, and I don’t really follow trends. I just make the kind of music that I wanna hear, that I don’t really find being made by others these days. The idea that I’ve always stuck to (which I believe I first heard from Steve Martin) has been to “be so good they can’t ignore you”.
I’d say I’m most proud of getting to have worked and/or performed with some real luminaries in the music industry, including Jackson Browne, Chris Barron (of the Spin Doctors), Louise Goffin and Jerry Joseph. Also, having had a song I wrote placed in a film by Jane Wiedlin (songwriter/bassist of the Go Go’s), and another (a co-write with Louise Goffin), performed at Carnegie Hall by the legendary artist, Donovan, were a great honor.

Have you ever had to pivot?

After being out of college for about two years while living in NYC, I hit a low point. I was working a corporate job at an internet advertising company, and at about 6 months in, I just felt stuck. Mainly because the product was soulless to me, but also because I knew there was a something for me beyond the corporate world. Compound that with the fact that this was my first “real job” out of school and I felt obliged to stay at it for at least a year (there was also stock option incentives to do that); as well, my parents, who had split up when i was in college, had just sold the house I grew up in on Long Island. All this lead me to finding myself in a real quarter-life crisis, and at a certain point it started to affect my health. That’s when I knew I needed to make a change.
At the time I had just recorded the first demos of my original songs and had been sharing them with friends and coworkers. The response was sufficiently positive, that it made me decide that I needed to go after being a songwriter. When I made that decision, I also realized I would need to leave New York, because I felt too intimidated to start here. I was reading a lot of self help books (“The Artist’s Way”, for one) that made me realize I needed to take a sabbatical to write and explore life as an artist.
I had a friend I grew up with who was living down in Chile, teaching at an American school there. He was really liking it, and he convinced me to come down, and was able to help me get work and lodging through his school. Literally when I got on the plane down there I felt my health improve. I didn’t realize how much the stress of my situation, and the fast paced city life in general, had been affecting me.
Long story short, after being in Chile about 6 months, having written quite a bit of music (in addition to studying Spanish, and working as an English teacher there), I went to the travel agent’s office with the plan to book my return trip back to the states, but something prevented from going inside the door. I wasn’t ready to go home but I didn’t know why! I went through about a month of some intense confusion, as I thought I’d accomplished all I’d set out to do there…
A few days later I got a call asking if I wanted to audition at a bar/restaurant that a friend of a friend had opened, that was looking for a house musician to play and sing three nights a week. Well, I did it, and they hired me!
Prior to that I’d thought I’d just be a songwriter, but after that first 3 night run of gigs singing for people, I woke up the following day feeling something had clicked on inside me.
Looking back on that move, which seemed crazy to many (even myself!) at the time, I can’t honestly say I would be an active performing artist today if I hadn’t made it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Well, I love that learning music and exploring songwriting is a never-ending pursuit. I know I’ll never get bored with it! But the most rewarding aspect as an artist and performer, I would say, is that I get to take my life experience–pain, joy, love (all of it!), and communicate it through music, which is a true universal language. When I see a song I’ve written connect with someone (and that can be anywhere in the world), there’s really no better feeling. It can be a hard life, but it’s also very blessed!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.craiggreenbergmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiggreenbergmusic
• Facebook: https://www.fb.com/craiggreenbergmusic
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/craig_greenberg
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/cgreenb
• Other: on spotify – https://open.spotify.com/artist/7kqwSGYj5QzxTqzRcgRTTF