Richard D. Ruttenberg

I knew my life's ambition quite early. First heard The Beatles at age 3 and that was it for me. My mom immediately bought me a Beatles lunchbox, I got a Beatles haircut, and my first drum set soon arrived. I practiced all the time. I wanted Ringo's job real bad.

By age 12, I gigged on weekends with "Joe Gerkman & The Slovakian Soundmasters". Yeh, a polka band in Pittsburgh. These were grown men and the band was very tight. They'd pick me up for rehearsals and gigs. I made $75 bucks a night and got dinner, too! I was making serious cash as a kid, and I could play.

Junior high Jazz band followed and then high school jazz band, too. I'd sneak into the jazz clubs in Pittsburgh to listen and sit in on the drums. Getting "schooled" by more experienced players was what it was all about and I'd to go back and "shed" until the next time.

Studied composition at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. All the great musicians of the world were there learning, practicing, & polishing their skills.

From there, traveled with lots of acts. Then, an offer from guitarist Larry Smith from England. Toured with heavy metal act Storm Warning. Also played with The Nobulator, and pop sensation Far Cry. My neighbors in London were Depeche Mode. We hung out with Lemmy from Motorhead, & tragic punk queen Wendy O'Williams. I liked her a lot. She was actually very kind and understood musicians.

Fast forward to today and I've got a total of 25 albums out on iTunes, Amazon, Beatport, Bandcamp, etc. I've recorded with world class musicians including Jimmy Haslip, John Daversa, Barry Finnerty, Dean Parks, Nick Kellie, Vinnie Zummo, David Budway, Ken Karsh, Patrick de Caumette, Kevin Crockett, Dave Fields, Joe Berger, Terry Tuck, Andrew Austin, Art Lip, Eddie "Motown" Kohen, Keith "PLEX" Barnhart, Zeno Messis, Laggy "Hijacker" Panteli, Peter Dutch.

I've signed contracts with Superfreq and StarkFutures record labels in London. I'm one of the founding members of the band RiZe & Delicate Droids.

Composed several film scores, one of which entitled "I Am Anna" made it's debut at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The film won for best drama at the Hollywood International Moving Pictures Festival & Los Angeles Film Festival in 2018.

More music is in the pipeline. Stay tuned!