Ruth Greenwood
THE SHORT VERSION:
□ Born in Michigan
□ Began playing and singing professionally in Vancouver, BC Canada at 18 with band "Hot Damn"
□ First song on first demo recorded on RCA
□ Other cuts on Columbia, Epic, Vanguard, smaller labels in NYC and Nashville
□ Song on Engelbert Humperdinck album
□ Song on FAME TV NBC-TV prime-time show
□ Song on European #1 selling “Kids from FAME Again” RCA album
□ Song on recent Sony DVD release of “Fame – the First Season”
□ Co-wrote album for Sesame Street Records
□ Placed 4 songs in top 15 of tunesmith.net song contest
□ USA Songwriting Competition finalist
□ Nashville Songsearch Honorable Mention
□ Singer/Songwriter Contest Honorable Mention
□ Performed at Bluebird Café in the round with Tony Arata (“The Dance” – Garth Brooks)
□ Performed in the round at Belcourt Theater, Nashville, with Angela Kaset, Gerald Smith
□ Invited to put together own round at Bluebird Café
□ Invited to return “any time” to The Bitter End, NYC
□ Invited to perform with NJ Songwriters in the Round
□ Invited to perform with Chicks with Picks, Nashville
□ Co-wrote song being arranged by Liberty Devito (Billy Joel’s drummer)
□ Invited to perform at Independent Music Conferences 2006
□ Current CD gaining airplay in US, Canada, Japan
THE LONG VERSION: Growing up in a small town in Michigan, Ruth listened to the music of her mother, a classical pianist and composer, and her father, a trumpet player who played all the great standards. A love of words came from her grandfather, a poet who'd only be schooled through fifth grade.
"My songs grew from so many early influences," says Ruth. "My first radio listening was country, with a tiny radio hidden under my pillow at night. When I got my first, Stella, guitar, I learned to play and sing many of the Appalachian ballads collected by John Jacob Niles. I loved the sad stories and modal harmonies. I taught myself piano at the same time, learning from my dad's fake books, playing from chord symbols. And I was listening to Hendrix and those great Detroit rockers--especially Bob Seger, and singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Motown."
After a stretch with a less-than-stellar band in college ("guitar player only soloed on his top string, drummer preferred folk music, bass player preferred electronic feedback, lead singer was an operatic student whose teacher told her "don't bend your voice!"), Ruth went out to Vancouver, British Columbia for a week...and everything changed.
After jamming with a guitarist on a streetcorner in the old Gastown district (full of hippies, tourists and "rubbies," winos who allegedly drank bay rum), Ruth was joined by a wiry barefoot guy carrying a flute. They played, laughed, and traded names...he turned out to be a drummer just off the road with Van Morrison. Lenny Rifogiato introduced her to Bruce Gallagher, ace blues-rock pianist later recording and touring worldwide as "Doc Fingers". The three of them jammed...and by the next night were working, adding a bassist. As "Hot Damn," they played clubs, outdoor concerts, did some national TV and studio work.
Ruth went back to Philadelphia eventually, joining a 7-piece group that included Paul Dugan (Suzanne Vega), Richard Steacker (Grover Washington Jr.) and composer-pianist Christopher Larkin.
She spent the next two years at Berklee College, playing and writing, and then finished with a degree in Music
Therapy from SUNY New Paltz/NY, coming into the city to play with the Jazzmobile Workshop Band, or as a singer-songwriter performing her songs in local coffeehouses. "One of my happiest playing moments was when Vassar Clements stopped by a tavern where I sometimes sat in with the band...and we got to play a blues together, he and I gleefully trading fours on the solo. What an honor...and what a nice man!"
Urged to come to NYC to try to further her songwriting career, Ruth moved there for the summer. And that summer recorded her first demos. Five songs, piano/vocal. Solo. And the first song, "Go Down" was held for noted blues singer Esther Phillips, and later the A&R man sought a record deal for Ruth herself, but the label (CTI) had stopped recording vocalists.
But then it happened! After playing two of those songs at a showcase, producer Paul Vance (co-writer of "Catch a Falling Star", others) chose that song for the debut album of RCA recording artist Gail Wynters. William Krasilovsky, author of "This Business of Music," was also attending, and offered to represent Ruth pro bono. He later sent her tape to the late John Hammond, Sr. whose hand-written comments Ruth still treasures, "It reads, 'Excellent writer, good singer, very interesting material". Since I was seeking a label deal at that point, his encouragement to me to continue working on developing my voice was helpful, if a little disappointing. But now that I'm focused on writing alone, his words lift me if I'm ever dogged by doubt in my abilities."
At Wynters' recording session, Ruth met two cowriters who continue to be friends and cowriters. With Jack Perricone (composer of #1 "Run Joey Run"), Ruth cowrote "Better than Ever", which was recorded by Saundra Steele in Nashville, on Ralph Murphy's Picalic label. With writer Gary Portnoy (who cowrote and sang the #1 "Cheers" theme song), Ruth wrote "When the Night Ends" which was recorded by Engelbert Humperdinck and by the group Bluewater, and "The Door to Your Room" which Gary recorded on his Capitol Records debut. Ruth and Gary also wrote "I Was Only Trying to Help" which aired on the NBC series "Fame" and appeared on the Kids from FAME LP (released in Europe, it rose to #2 on UK Billboard) and #1 in other countries. The pair also wrote "Timeless" which was sung on NBC TV's "Texas" series.
After taking time off for marriage and family, Ruth began writing again. After placing 4 out of the top 15 songs in a Nashville song contest, she began spending more time in Nashville, writing and performing. ASCAP's Ralph Murphy encouraged Ruth to bring by her new songs.
After her first writer's night performance at the Bluebird Cafe, Ruth was invited to be in a two-hour "in the round" set with Tony Arata, Jeff Pearson and Matt Ramsey.
"How do you follow "The Dance"?" Ruth wondered. "My plan, I joked, was to sing the National Anthem at that point, so people would stand up for MY song too! But instead, Tony and the others were wonderfully warm, the place was packed, and it was one of the happiest performance experiences of my life."
Ruth was also chosen to play in the round with Angela Kaset, Gerald Smith, Rachel Williams and Ken Mellons at the Belcourt Theatre last year, and has also played at the French Quarter, the Commodore and the Hall of Fame.
Ruth has also received an Honorable Mention in the Nashville Song Search contest and was a finalist in the USA Songwriting competition's country division. One of Nashville's most respected songpluggers has been pitching her work recently.
She continues to write solo and with an amazing variety of cowriters. "Collaborating is like no other experience," Ruth says. "You shake hands hello with a stranger, and an hour later you're both in tears with a lyric that gets you in the gut...or you're debating "what women like"...or confessing some dark sin or talking about his amazingly embarrassing aunt. And then you put it to music, shake hands, and go home. But you know you've allowed this once-stranger a peek into your soul. And it's ok."