Jesse Ruben

On the list of what 24-year-old singer Jesse Ruben doesn't have is a record label, a publicist or a booking agent.

But what he does have — raw talent and unwavering determination — just about outweighs all the rest.

"I'm a one-man show," he laughs at DuMont in Williamsburg, where he lives nearby with a roommate in a walkup apartment.

He's not kidding. Though he has a manager, Ruben often looks for his own gigs and books his shows.

Recently, he played an unpaid show for a packed house at Rockwood Music Hall on Allen St. on the lower East Side, which actually set him back financially. He paid the band that performed with him out of his own pocket.

"It was a great show," he says with a shrug and a smile.

And he's not giving up.

When asked if he'd ever be anything other than a musician, Ruben, who has been living in Williamsburg for the past year, simply says, "No way.

"This is what I'm good at! This is what I do," says Ruben, who grew up in Philadelphia and got a degree in songwriting from Berklee College of Music in Boston. "It's the only thing I'll ever do."

Ruben's soulful, clear voice and boyish good looks should be a good fit in the music business — especially when paired with his lyrics about the ups and downs of the romantic relationships between twentysomethings.

Even his less mainstream songs, like "Too Tired," are catchy in his own style.

"It's over you said as you got out of bed/I'm over it now/And I felt incomplete as I pulled off the sheet/And found my way out

"But no one told me that love could end/Till I gave up buying a ring/And I'm too tired to lie to you/Instead I'll just sit here and sing."

Though his most recent album, "The Ones Who Matter," is available on iTunes and he gets letters and emails from people who have heard his albums online or on Sirius Radio, Ruben admits he's not earning enough to pay the bills.

For that, Ruben relies on paying shows — which young musicians in New York know are few and far between — like the one he landed at Bowery Electric on Feb. 14.

On his set list are songs inspired by and based on his experiences in New York, including an homage to Simon and Garfunkel titled "Bleecker and Sixth" — Paul Simon wrote "Bleecker Street" around 1963 — about a couple who meet and end up living on that corner:

"She's scouring galleries, counting her calories/Saving her salary too/

"She's soft and outspoken, but feels like she's broken/And hoping that she will improve/

"Cause she's been so deceived/That she thinks that she needs to be fixed/She's in love with a man that she met down on Bleecker and Sixth."

"New York has had a huge impact on my work," he says. "I grew up in Philly, went to school in Boston, moved to Nashville and now I'm here, and I've never been in a place where I've felt so comfortable immediately.

"New York is not for everyone, but it's for me. I'm surrounded by really, really talented people, who are supportive of me as opposed to just being competitive."

Ruben says that he intended for the city to come through in his songs, since the writing process is very personal to him.

"I use the things that have happened to me in my work," he says, mentioning "Song for Zack," a particularly difficult number that he wrote over four months after a friend survived an accident that left him paralyzed.

Ruben performed the song at the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation 20th Anniversary Gala in New York this past November.

"It's not always an easy thing to do, but it makes my lyrics relatable," he says. "Hearing someone say that your music is significant to their lives is incredibly rewarding."

But rewarding doesn't pay the rent. The next step is, he hopes, a paying career doing what he loves.

"It's going to happen," he says confidently.

- NY Daily News

24-year old Jesse Ruben sure has been working hard to break into the music business! The sad part is he is still left without a record label, publicist, or booking agent!
Jesse was born and raised in Philly as a part of a musical family. His father and grandfather were professional musicians and performed at weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, corporate events and other events in Philadelphia. Not wanting to follow directly in the footsteps of his father, Ruben decided to take piano lessons instead of guitar. “I had told myself I couldn’t play guitar because that was my dad’s instrument. Then I realized how stupid that was.” Well, it’s a good thing he came to this realization (ladies- see video below and you’ll know exactly what I am talking about) because by age 16 he was writing songs with guitar in hand. He attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and by the time he graduated he was on the road every weekend performing.
Ruben’s voice is so clear, passionate, and soulful- there is no way you can’t like it! Most of his songs are about the ups and downs of relationships in your twenties, which couldn’t be more fitting for him and his audience. In my first listen of some of Ruben’s music I have to admit, I thought the lyrics were a little obvious, but after more listens I think this is exactly what makes the songs what they are and showcases who he is. He speaks from the heart and is completely honest with his words, which is fitting to the title of his debut album Aiming For Honesty, released in 2008. He released his second album, The Ones That Matter, in April of 2010, adding a full-band accompaniment to the mix. My favorites on this album are “A Lack of Armor”, “Bleecker & 6th”, “Unbreakable” and “Too Tired”. “Too Tired” is different from any other track he has, with a more jazzy feeling. - Just Push Play

Singer/songwriter Jesse Ruben released his second full-length album "The Ones That Matter" on April 27, 2010. More than a year later, he sought out to make a simple birthday wish a reality.

On July 23, Ruben took to his Tumblr, in a post aptly titled "My Birthday Wish..." to ask his fans and followers to help him out. In the post, Ruben shared that on Wednesday, July 27, he (and his twin sister, Molly) would be turning 25 and that people had been asking him what he wanted for the big day.

His request? For "The Ones That Matter" to reach the Top 10 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart. A hefty goal, considering Ruben's album was nowhere to be seen in the top 200 albums on the chart as of July 23 at 4 p.m. He made it clear that his birthday wish was not a marketing tactic, and the post was just him asking a personal favor, "without a label, or a manager, or an agent, or a promotional team."

With the album price lowered to $7.99 on iTunes, and the Tumblr post linked to Facebook and Twitter, Jesse Ruben's birthday wish was up and running.

By 11 the next morning, "The Ones That Matter" had broken onto the chart at No. 151. By the same time on the morning of July 26, the album had steadily jumped almost 80 spots, appearing at No. 72. Fans and friends kept in touch with the singer, commenting on his Facebook updates and replying with encouraging words on Twitter. With such an amazing outpouring of support, Ruben's birthday wish seemed to be a great deal closer to becoming a reality.


Fast forward to 1 p.m. on the same day, when the album reached No. 42. Only two more hours passed before it reached a very exciting No. 23, climbing almost 50 spots throughout the afternoon. Then came the moment that Jesse and his family, friends and fans had been watching and waiting to see for three days.

At about 6:30 p.m. on July 26, with just over five hours remaining until Ruben's birthday, "The Ones That Matter" reached the No. 10 spot on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart (where it stayed for almost two days).

So how exactly do you react when you see your album at No. 10? Jesse Ruben says he stared at the computer for a minute before calling his mom with the news, "we did it," and is still in shock.

Between the hundreds of people retweeting, reblogging, commenting and sharing Ruben's posts and updates, his fans' and followers' dedication and support did not go unnoticed. When asked if he had anything to say to his fans, Ruben simply responded, "I could not have done this without them. They are amazing."
- Yahoo.com

Philly-born songwriter Jesse Ruben had only one wish for his 25th birthday: to have his album The Ones That Matter land on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter Top 10 chart. With the help of his loyal fan-base, Ruben’s wish was fulfilled. The Ones That Matter is a follow-up to Ruben’s 2008 debut record, Aiming for Honesty. Once you begin listening to his album, it is impossible to push the pause button. Ruben’s soulful voice and touching lyrics captivate listeners. His focused vision for his album is impressively executed, which can be heard throughout his pop-rock songs. Tracks such as “A Lack of Armor,” “Ace of Spades” and “Bleeker and Sixth” exemplify Ruben’s persistence to continually create irresistible music. - Atlantic City Weekly

“Sometimes if you want something, it turns out you just have to ask,” said Jesse Ruben, with a sidelong grin.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., singer-songwriter is still reeling from the dizzying climb his album took through iTunes charts last week, all because he simply asked for it for his birthday.

Ruben, 25, has no manager, no record deal, and no marketing team.

The album, “The Ones That Matter,” had been released in April of last year. Since then, despite having five songs featured on television, ranging from “One Tree Hill” to the History Channel, it never charted high in the iTunes singer-songwriter list.

A few days before his birthday last week, Ruben posted a heartfelt letter to his fans on his blog. “I know the album has been out for a year now. But before I start recording my next project, just once, I’d like to see it in the top 10,” he wrote, urging them to buy the album if they hadn’t already, and to repost and re-tweet the information.

“This is not a marketing tactic. This is not someone from my ‘team.’ This is me, personally asking for your help. I want to do this. Without a label, or a manager, or an agent, or a promotional team. Just with you.”

The next couple of days he was hovering in the charts around 175, when all at once, sales mushroomed on Tuesday. That morning he had rocketed to number 77. Then 34, then 32, then 23 — “just flying,” he said incredulously.

Tuesday night, there he was, squarely at number 10.

“I couldn’t believe it.” He clicked in disbelief through hundreds of notes that flooded his inboxes, and elatedly took a screenshot at midnight.

On his birthday the following day he climbed to No. 9 — one spot above his idols Simon and Garfunkel — and stayed in the top 10 through Friday as strangers saw a new face in the charts and bought the album.

Anna Loynes, a publicist at Scoop Marketing for Nielsen SoundScan, said Ruben’s album sales surged 462 percent last week. His numbers are small — he has sold about 1,100 records and 5,500 individual songs since the album’s release — but managing to quadruple sales without spending a cent in marketing “is impressive,” says Loynes.

The iTunes singer-songwriter list is calculated by real-time sales, and since the majority of his sales occurred in one day, the concentrated purchase volume helped him achieve his iTunes climb.

If Ruben’s experiment is the newest example of music gone viral, it’s also evidence of a new challenge for musicians in the digital age.

Christian Schraga, vice president for digital marketing at Sony Music Entertainment, said, “We do look at numbers. If you have a lot of dedicated followers on Twitter, you’re going to be able to sell a lot without having some sort of major advertising campaign.”

Musicians who have already gained popularity in their own right are lower-risk, higher-return opportunities. And though that has always been true, Schraga said, the Web has changed the landscape.

Social media is visibly numerical. It clocks the number of Twitter followers, Facebook fans, YouTube views and Myspace plays so talent scouts today can more easily quantify an artist’s popularity.

On the positive side, social media also makes it cheaper and easier for musicians to reach more listeners, providing a DIY approach to stardom harnessed successfully by artists like the MySpace breakout Arctic Monkeys and YouTube megahit Justin Bieber.

But the constant focus on numbers can also be a nerve-racking distraction, Ruben said.

“I’d much rather if the music were the only thing that mattered, but you need the numbers to prove you can fill seats, to get a show, to be able to keep doing what you want to do,” he said.
The songwriter, whose close friend Zack Weinstein suffered an injury making him a quadriplegic in high school, raised $8,000 last spring to run a marathon for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, where he serves on the Champions Committee.

Keeping positive and ignoring limits is something his friend has taught him, says Ruben, who says he plans to shoot for even higher sales next time.

“I went from never running more than a mile in my life to running a marathon in under four hours. After his spinal cord injury, Zack got a guest-starring role on ‘Glee,’ the biggest TV show on the planet. I went from not being on the singer-songwriter chart to the top 10 in less than three days. How can I, after all that, think that anything is impossible?” - The Daily (ipad newspaper)

“Sometimes if you want something, it turns out you just have to ask,” said Jesse Ruben, with a sidelong grin.

The Brooklyn, N.Y., singer-songwriter is still reeling from the dizzying climb his album took through iTunes charts last week, all because he simply asked for it for his birthday.

Ruben, 25, has no manager, no record deal, and no marketing team.

The album, “The Ones That Matter,” had been released in April of last year. Since then, despite having five songs featured on television, ranging from “One Tree Hill” to the History Channel, it never charted high in the iTunes singer-songwriter list.

A few days before his birthday last week, Ruben posted a heartfelt letter to his fans on his blog. “I know the album has been out for a year now. But before I start recording my next project, just once, I’d like to see it in the top 10,” he wrote, urging them to buy the album if they hadn’t already, and to repost and re-tweet the information.

“This is not a marketing tactic. This is not someone from my ‘team.’ This is me, personally asking for your help. I want to do this. Without a label, or a manager, or an agent, or a promotional team. Just with you.”

The next couple of days he was hovering in the charts around 175, when all at once, sales mushroomed on Tuesday. That morning he had rocketed to number 77. Then 34, then 32, then 23 — “just flying,” he said incredulously.

Tuesday night, there he was, squarely at number 10.

“I couldn’t believe it.” He clicked in disbelief through hundreds of notes that flooded his inboxes, and elatedly took a screenshot at midnight.

On his birthday the following day he climbed to No. 9 — one spot above his idols Simon and Garfunkel — and stayed in the top 10 through Friday as strangers saw a new face in the charts and bought the album.

Anna Loynes, a publicist at Scoop Marketing for Nielsen SoundScan, said Ruben’s album sales surged 462 percent last week. His numbers are small — he has sold about 1,100 records and 5,500 individual songs since the album’s release — but managing to quadruple sales without spending a cent in marketing “is impressive,” says Loynes.

The iTunes singer-songwriter list is calculated by real-time sales, and since the majority of his sales occurred in one day, the concentrated purchase volume helped him achieve his iTunes climb.

If Ruben’s experiment is the newest example of music gone viral, it’s also evidence of a new challenge for musicians in the digital age.

Christian Schraga, vice president for digital marketing at Sony Music Entertainment, said, “We do look at numbers. If you have a lot of dedicated followers on Twitter, you’re going to be able to sell a lot without having some sort of major advertising campaign.”

Musicians who have already gained popularity in their own right are lower-risk, higher-return opportunities. And though that has always been true, Schraga said, the Web has changed the landscape.

Social media is visibly numerical. It clocks the number of Twitter followers, Facebook fans, YouTube views and Myspace plays so talent scouts today can more easily quantify an artist’s popularity.

On the positive side, social media also makes it cheaper and easier for musicians to reach more listeners, providing a DIY approach to stardom harnessed successfully by artists like the MySpace breakout Arctic Monkeys and YouTube megahit Justin Bieber.

But the constant focus on numbers can also be a nerve-racking distraction, Ruben said.

“I’d much rather if the music were the only thing that mattered, but you need the numbers to prove you can fill seats, to get a show, to be able to keep doing what you want to do,” he said.
The songwriter, whose close friend Zack Weinstein suffered an injury making him a quadriplegic in high school, raised $8,000 last spring to run a marathon for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, where he serves on the Champions Committee.

Keeping positive and ignoring limits is something his friend has taught him, says Ruben, who says he plans to shoot for even higher sales next time.

“I went from never running more than a mile in my life to running a marathon in under four hours. After his spinal cord injury, Zack got a guest-starring role on ‘Glee,’ the biggest TV show on the planet. I went from not being on the singer-songwriter chart to the top 10 in less than three days. How can I, after all that, think that anything is impossible?” - The Daily (ipad newspaper)

Who is Jesse Ruben?

As someone who frequently writes about local music talent, I really like scanning MySpace Music and listening to random bands. I won't kid you - there's an awful lot of crap out there, but every once in a while, I'll stumble upon a random gem and regain my faith in the music scene.

That said, Jesse Ruben is definitely a diamond. (You thought I was going to say "ruby," didn't you? Thought I was going to make some cutesy, cheesy wordplay off his name? Well, I'm not. So...there.)

It's safe to say that Ruben's maturity and talent definitely set him apart from most other 20-year-olds. And that voice? Incredible. Jesse opens his mouth and something peaceful and clean and delightfully mellow comes out - and it doesn't hurt that he's pretty good with a guitar, too. Add in his boy-next-door charm and you've got a musician who's both ridiculously talented and refreshingly humble - a heckuva combination in our book.

We chatted with Jesse and got all the answers to some of our burning questions - so keep reading to learn all about one of Philly's rising singer-songwriters. You'll be glad you did.

Tell us the basics: the instrument/s you play, your age, and... umm... an
interesting fact about you.

Jesse: I'm 20 years old, I play guitar and piano, and I'm really good at Ultimate Frisbee.

Where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

I grew up in Maple Glen, which is about a half hour outside of Philly. Now I spend most of my time in Boston, where I'm currently attending Berklee School of Music, but I also stay in New York City and Philly.

How long have you been involved with music?

This is such a stereotypical answer... but, I've been around music my entire life. I'm a fourth-generation musician, and I started taking piano lessons when I was in first grade. I picked up the guitar when I got to high school, and songwriting has been a huge part of my life ever since.

How would you describe your sound?

I'd like to think my songs are fairly accessible to everyone. I write mostly singer/songwriter stuff, but I try to avoid a lot of the musical and lyrical clichés that you hear so often in that genre.

It seems like you do a lot of touring - what's that like? Do you get homesick, or do you enjoy all the traveling?

Good question. I don't actually tour as much as I'd like to, which is all the time. But I do really enjoy it. I've been up and down the East Coast several times, and I love going to a new place and performing for a new audience. Sometimes it gets a little rough, since I mostly play solo, and a 12-hour train ride can get boring when you are alone, but it's all part of it.

Are there any dominant themes in your songwriting?

From the beginning, I've always tried to tell the truth in my songs. I don't like when lyrics are really vague and unspecific. It works for some people, but it's not my style. I'm gonna tell you exactly what's happening, and how I'm feeling about it. I think it's easier for people to relate that way, because then they can listen and go, "Oh, wow. I totally know what that's like." At this point in my life, I'm writing a lot about growing up and trying to figure out who I am, as well as about my important relationships.

Any finished albums?

Not yet, but soon. I'm going down to Atlanta to record another four songs in August, and then the first record will be done. It's gonna be called Aiming for Honesty.

Who are your most dominant musical influences?

Of course, there are so many. My earliest musical memories are of the great swing singers: Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, etc. But I also grew up on all of the incredible music from my father's generation: The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Cream. As I got older, I started getting into acoustic music, and I've been obsessed with Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Jackson Browne. Some of my other influences are Elliot Smith, Nick Drake, Duncan Sheik and Matt Nathanson.

Who would you most like to share a stage with?

Wow, another question where the answer is endless. I'd like to play with pretty much everyone I just listed, but definitely Ben Folds. He's hilarious and puts on a great show. But there are literally hundreds of artists that I'd like to play with.

Where's your favorite place to hang out in Philadelphia?

I don't get to spend much time there anymore since I'm living in Boston for most of the year, but I really love the World Café. It's a great venue, and there are always cool people hanging out and good music playing.

I'll bet you're pretty popular with the ladies, eh? Any stalkers/groupies? Give us the dirt...

Hahaha. I've never gotten this question. I've had a few incidents involving some drunken phone calls from high school girls telling me they wanted to marry me; THAT was awkward. I also just played a show in Virginia Beach where a woman really wanted me to meet her 16-year-old daughter, and she was really persistent, but luckily I was leaving the next - Rachel Perry, Play Philly

August 07, 2007

Jesse Ruben was really nervous about his on air interview at WERS, though if you tuned in for the performance the only indication of this might have been his deep breathes before each song- a little like the respiration techniques taught in prenatal classes. Other than anxious laughter, Jesse Ruben seemed like a seasoned performer. His songs are seamless with hooks that dig in and just won't let go. He admits and welcomes the frequent John Mayer similes. And on songs like "Ace of Spades" they're difficult to dismiss. Both Mayer and Ruben have the awww factor down-pat. As in, "awww, why can't I find a boy who will write adorable songs about me?" Jesse Ruben has set the bar high for up coming musicians and future boyfriends everywhere.

Ruben tells me that he hopes that his upcoming debut album, expected to be released this fall, encompasses the entire spectrum of relationship highs and lows, that each song will touch on a very personal place. "A Lack of Armor" speaks to that very certain bottom of the barrel feeling. Ruben proved that he is capable of more than just heartbreak empathy (which is never to be underestimated) with "Point Me In The Right Direction." It hints at the devastation of our post 9/11 climate and recalls the song writing depth of James Taylor, another of Ruben's influences.

While Jesse Ruben's father, a fellow musician, had hoped that his son might develop an aptitude for electric guitar, Jesse confessed that he is quite comfortable in his acoustic niche. Why fix what isn't broken? Ruben has already developed an surprisingly complete sound of his own. Sorry dad.

http://www.wers.org/articles/?id=664 - Lucy Barber, WERS.org