Work Experience
Studio Musician- Highly adept in both keyboard and singing
- Received most valuable player award for number one session singer from the Grammy Show
- Has recorded and performed live with the greats
- Has participated in sessions in every major recording studio in the United States, from A&M Records to RCA 24th Street.
A lot of audio engineers who think that they are producers forget about the human qualities as they are searching for a clean sound. Ann Ruckert has a sensitiveity to the voice and passion of an individual artist. She knows what's real and what's not.
- Producer for McMahon and Wallowitch Album (LINK)
- Great vocal producer
- Exceptionally good at teaching singer/songwriter skills. In fact, Whitney Houston's "You Give Good Love" was written in her Saturday class (LINK)
- Ability to distinguish a hit song
- Former students include Phyllis Hyman, Karlo DiVito, Robbie Benson, Suzanna Vega, and Lala Cope
Musical Contractor/Coordinator
Ann has worked on major motion pictures and TV soundtracks, including "Housesitter" with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, "Boys on the Side" with Whoopie Goldberg, and "Lovesick" with Dudley Moore.
Freelance A&R
Ann has worked A&R for decades. She has introduced many of her students to executives in the music industry, and a good number of them have gotten signed. For example, when Lala Cope played "You Give Good Love" in Saturday class, Ann picked up the phone and made some phone calls. The rest is history!
Mentor
It's important to Ann Ruckert to share her vast knowledge of the music business. That's why she has taken on dozens of mentees throughout the years. Many of her them, most notably Phyllis Hyman, have gone on to have lucrative and successful careers in the industry. If Ms. Ruckert sees a student with exceptional technical talent and great initiative, she will take the student on as a mentor.
Educator
Ann is a well known teacher in the music business. Not only has she done several lectures for the Learning Annex ("Making Money Making Music"), but has gone on speaking tours around the country to inform and educate her audiences.
If you are interested in studying with her, she offers a Saturday class for up and coming singers and songwriters and a Tuesday workshop class (by invitation only) for her advanced students.
Music Business Consultant
Ann has worked for many years in the music business, and has worked as a consultant for major record companies, industry organizations, independent record labels, and individual artists (see client list). She offers professional advice and also life coaching.
Lifelong Student
Internationally known as a musician's musician, Ann studied orchestration and composition at Juilliard and London's Royal Academy of Music, as well as privately with Parisian teacher Nadia Boulanger, Helen Jordan and David Sorin Collyer. She continued her studies in ethnomusicology at New York University graduate school.
—Barrett Zinn, student