Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gary Rubin . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Gary, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
I thought about December 2019 when the Chinese Discovered Covid in the city of Wuhan in China. Friends and people I know were soon dying and life as we knew it was never going to be the same. I had a grandfather who lived to a hundred and three, and my Aunt Clara was so upset that of grandpa’s friends didn’t come to his funeral and none of them came to his. When I was born I learned my life expectancy was going to be sixty-one years.
The more I thought about it I realized in my typical style there was never going to be one thing I would do that would stand out, but everything I did was important. I decided I wasn’t going to end up like my grandfather, so I started on my journey knowing I had better make a lot of friends, and I did. By twelve I built a recording studio in my parent’s basement, a far cry from the neighborhood lemonade stands I built to make money at eight. And it started with a Webcor reel-to-reel recorder and no knowledge of what a recording studio needed, or how to solder wires together. I built everything, wired the equipment, and amazingly enough started receiving phone calls from people like Richard Knight who already had three number-one records in the United States. This was followed by a call from Pete Cantini who owned the Raven Gallery on Greenfield in Southfield and had acts like Joannie Mitchel, Josh White, Smothers Brothers, local group the Spike Drivers, and dozens more as he brought Folk Music to Detroit. Joannie had an apartment at Wayne State and all the artists from out of town would stay with her and her husband Chuck Mitchel to save on paying for lodging. I set up recording equipment at Pete’s club to record. The Roostertail, where I recorded Diana Ross and the Supremes, Brenda Lee, Sheri Lewis, The Apartment Lounge, and Duffy’s on the Lake, and any place Bobby Laurel’s Jazz Trio played if Bobby didn’t like their Sound System I put a new one in. Then I decided I needed to sign some groups, so I held open auditions every Thursday, I signed the Modernistics they recorded the first record Pioneer Recording released, we had, the Precision, Satins Angels, Shirley Peterson, and her sister, and many more. But the very first group I recorded was Glenn Frey who went on to be the lead singer, guitar player of the Eagles, along with Shelia Wexler. By the time I was fourteen I started Mumford I joined sixteen clubs, etc., and made friends with Eli Scherr who later made millions in Real Estate, and Craig Carnic who taught me even more about electronics.
The Summer I turned sixteen in 1962 I went by Northland Playhouse and the person who ran their concessions asked me to run it, he also ran a small amusement park at Northland Center and asked me to run the Carousel on the fourth of July and left pointed to the on switch and left. He forgot to show me the off switch. The kids on the first ride had a long ride.
The assistant and I would set out drinks and popcorn before the play intermissions. The two men that ran the Playhouse, would take tickets and then help themselves to free popcorn and drinks. I would soak the cups overnight and place them on the counter in a place I knew they would grab them. By then the cups would be soft and as they grabbed them the cups would collapse soaking their tuxedo jacket arms. Ken Schwartz asked if I wanted to be the assistant publicity director.
The Playhouse also had a Publicity Director who was not well. He would place ten or fifteen medicine containers on the drink and candy counter and proceed to take his meds. When a star would fly into town I would go with him to the airport to pick them up. And again, he would put all his medicines on the counters as we waited for the actors to deplane. Ken Schwartz asked if I
A few days later Ken came over to ask me if I wanted to be the publicity director. He had died. So in addition to taking tickets, picking up actors I know placing Newspaper Ads, Delivered Posters throughout the City, take actors to live interviews, for Bill Kennedy, Rita Bill, and I met many like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Merv Griffin, Marjorie Lord, Joel Grey, Mariska Hargitay was six months old when Jayne Mansfield her mother came to perform in the play Bus Stop, I conveniently changed the letters and the host of the morning Radio Show Dick Osborn at ABC 1270 complimented Northland Playhouse truth in advertising.
While at the playhouse they would get cars for the stars from Ford, Chrysler, and GM. At the beginning of the summer, they got a Mustang Convertible red with a Black top so Marjorie Lords daughter could ride in it. When she left I got the keys for the car and continued to drive it for the rest of the summer. This worked so well I called Ford, Chrysler, and GM, and asked if we could get cars for our “Recording Stars?” The said yes but you have to be 21. They knew me so I said my Partners was older than me and he would pick up the car. Craig was older than me his birthday was June 20th, mine was June 30th.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
In 1958 I received a stereo tape recorder as a gift. By the mid sixties the London Music Revolution began and it quickly and it quickly spread to the teenagers in the United States everyone who could sing, play a guitar, or write music was preparing to be a star. In 1959 Richard Knight had a number one song “Living Doll,”and in 1967 another number one record Young One in 1967. One day out of the blue he called me and he would record in my basement studio for years. Organ Player George Martin found his way there two, often at 3:00 in the morning after doing bar gigs.
Soon I met Pete Cantini who owned The Raven Gallery and was instrumental in bringing Joni Mitchell, Righteous Brothers, Smother’s Brothers, Phil Oaks, Josh white, Spike Drivers a local Detroit Group, Bob Dylan all appeared at Masonic Temple. Pete and I also became very close and would often go to lunch he would drive I didn’t have a license yet. Eli Scherr a great business mind and Craig Carnick a gifted recording engineer started our company and we became partners. And I learned electronics and engineering. Soon all the neighborhood boys started groups, and Glenn Frey was about to start recording at my studio. Local friends started weekly dance clubs with go go girls. And more groups. Ronnie Fayne and others like Ion Gaum and Jerome Shaw were about to promote a Beach Boys Concert with Jay a the Americans, Shangri-Las, etc. WKNR mc’d the profrmance.
I then got the idea long before America’s Got Talent, The Voice, and American Idol began and we started to have Thursday Morning open Auditions.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
In 1964 I decided to drive from my house to James Couzens Hwy. I was already attending Michigan State University in East Lansing when I came home for the weekend. Being a freshman I was not allowed to have a car. I had a hand-me-down 1955 Pontiac Star Chief Convertible I inherited at fifteen when my brother left Wayne State to go to NYU. His classmates were Brian DePalma and Martin Scorsese. They worked on several movies together there.
Freshmen were not allowed to have cars on campus. So, I relied on my father or friends to drive me back and forth to Michigan State as I came in every weekend to work at my studio Pioneer Recording.
On that Saturday morning, I left the studio and headed toward James Couzens as I drove my car down Pembroke. When I reached James Couzens. As I turned right, I approached a strip of buildings on the right. Just past Grant’s Jewelry, there was an adjoining retail space for rent. I went into the Jewelry store, met the Grants, and asked if they knew anything about the building for lease. They said it was for lease as they handed me a set of keys and asked if I wanted to see it.
I toured the space and decided this was exactly the space I needed for a new recording studio. I went back home and got some tools, called some friends to meet me at the building. As they arrived, we started tearing down walls and sketching out plans as I needed to quickly produce drawings.
When I returned home, I told my dad on Monday he called Ed Rosenberg who owned among many other things Friendship building supplies. My dad explained how his son was just starting in the recording business with friends and his space would be perfect for our needs. He gave me a three-year lease starting with a much lower rent. He also asked what I needed in building materials, and I told him what I needed. He also gave me a great price and terms and Pioneer was about to become a trendsetter. The first opened to the public four-track Studio as I talked Ampex into leasing their first four-track to me a few months later.
I now knew I had to rearrange my classes for the next semester (fortunately we were on tri-semesters. But now I needed a dependable car. I bought a used Austin Healy Sprite from the Chevrolet dealership on Seven Mile and James Couzens where my dad’s father had BBQ in the thirties. I now parked illegally near campus and as I prepared for the second semester, I wanted to start my major. Radio and television courses. I was told I couldn’t take electives and the first course Radio Broadcasting 100 was already filled so I signed up for the next best thing Radio Broadcasting 101.
After two weeks in the class, the teacher found out I was not only not supposed to be there, but I had skipped one hundred and went right to 101. But he also learned about my home studio, and that I had moved advanced equipment then they did. I ended up helping him teach the class. I was prepared to do whatever was necessary to achieve my goals.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I learned quickly that you must work hard to get everyone to be their best. Having the ability to recognize talent and motivate people to do their best benefits everyone. Richard Knight a Detroit singer had three number-one hits in the 1950s and was a young man when he called me unexpectedly to record at my basement studio and ended up recording there often. Pete Cantini started the Raven Gallery on Greenfield where he featured in Folk Music and was responsible for discovering famous artists like Josh White, Joanie Mitchel the Smothers brothers, The Spike Drivers, and dozens more. I helped him put in recording equipment at his club so we could record all the famous acts, and many also came to Pioneer to record.
Berry Gordy started Motown a year before I started Pioneer, and I realized how important talent was to develop a recording studio and record company. Ed Sullivan had a Sunday night variety show when the “European Invasion” started. That was the beginning of groups like The Beatles, The Dave Clark Five, Hermans Hermits, Rolling Stones, and so many more, inspiring any teenager who could sing, play the guitar, etc. to want to be a “Rock Star,” in the United States. Ed continued to be a star maker when we brought Motown to Sunday Night TV, The Supremes, Temptations, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, etc.
So, I started to record a teenager by the name of Glenn Frey who later became the lead singer, guitar player, and songwriter for the Eagles, the group that outsold Michael Jackson’s album with 41 million sold to become the number one album at the time.
Long before AGT, The Voice, and America’s Got Talent began I started holding Thursday Morning Open Auditions and began signing singers and groups releasing our first record with the Modernistics featuring a black singer and three white men as background and harmony.
I also took a summer job at night working in the concession stand at Northland Playhouse to earn $35.00 a week to pay my bills by being the Assistant Publicity Director. I got to drive the stars around, place ads in the Newspapers, and take tickets. Soon after I started, I got a similar job with the Fisher Theater all the other seasons. Also, the head of Publicity at Northland Playhouse died, and I got his job. I learned a lot about promotion and marketing at the age of sixteen, meeting people like Sammy Davis Junior, Jayne Mansfield, Merv Griffen, Joel Gray, etc. I was making connections with Newspaper writers, and stars and even learned how to get free cars from Ford, Chrysler, and GM, for me and my new partners Craig Carnick and Eli Scherr.
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Image Credits
Gary Rubinhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNNl85lCtEmo8vy2kgLJCAwywKlo1GO2csNLjZVUDHP8r5uu5AE5JMKz8pgL-10B4-lqey1aGfaD8leXMXRVEpzFUIt1ivyaSBCuW9ZaazD2FPj7NsPYMy-AC6669CUpUEBmYdMyf7YIV7LZRNR__KIXp9FZbvgKRIxVyIlk1du_QNCNWoYjut7waYv_vGLeysjgQCkr5YsXWwWvtBhawF8e-gBrH4Tm6qJiehwovZLHKmcrH_T2cST46PcrPa448wu_tBA0Xexq8Yo2wk0MtZzH1stBfbH8QXkixLHBLEXWze4ToDlrJahcbl1qWqNplYQ_TtBarZGRG60NqBqWmdc0fqoAgzqqzZlAMbs9AbS97HTJWVvoZYJDrTaBhpjObpgHfyNT4IyBe6DtvQBRmjFUCwHSPOQglD8rsFxBHee6A5VdyNwMYa02D_mztF1rabQD0PYu14OM0_xAqd0G46KvOUNNhcWIZweuXqFgzsdx8ikyg02WbLZAWW1nu9KgIVKhMqOpnpwi6QUo1W0IJ9qK56IukSGeNQ9x7oysa0_2DFBhc2HhAnREt2dx_Ot6Kaob40h0zqv0xkL4bt2bWNMtf12c60UBrJXczGLOoOvDg5BC45cCgiigAFb3876wHOMJ2GavC_srDl-l30uc9poFcR7T7wjRgs24b9ZZVIxbjg1c105kdA9d3BhAen1CHssQnRUelAsrT48BVy1OfcHq61oQNy8u5ChLU3tyZiiF3OAAwttdgq7JREgwOV0-pZZ1xxnICQq1mAaCYAeZTpKBsog_YGygYgxc-spfXf_wGDZVfR_PIqn1JCgx1M5hhPQs6qigTfQQ78WRUATeCreZSYvjkOF17mO3Fe0qAlZw_CqTOksqLDIK8oVHDsKoOKypkVRNfjK1V29xJN9OaRoAw2A=w1177-h856-s-no-gm?authuser=0