Ben Brooks

A musician and lifelong music fanatic, I started writing music reviews for my high school newspaper back in the late ’60s in San Marino, California. While attending the University of Denver, I continued honing my craft, writing feature articles on artists and bands passing through town. After college, I returned to Los Angeles. Alongside stints playing in various bands, I kept writing for music publications, interviewing artists such as Joni Mitchell, Phil Collins, David Byrne, Todd Rundgren, Robert Fripp; producers Phil Ramone, Ken Scott, David Foster; and record-industry executives like Joe Smith, Tommy Mottola and John Kalodner, capturing it all on a trusty Radio Shack cassette recorder. As I began winding down a 40-plus year career as a record promotion executive, I found myself wondering whether I had kept those cassette tapes and photographs taken by the talented photographer, Jennifer Maxon, who accompanied me to many of my interviews? While rummaging through my shed—where all seemingly forgotten things end up—I finally uncovered a long-lost box containing the tapes. With the help of a new cassette player and modern artificial intelligence, I began digitizing and transcribing the recordings. What emerged were extraordinary candid conversations with artists and industry professionals at pivotal moments in their careers. It was a gold mine: a rich vein of insight into the artists careers, the music business, and the musical and cultural landscape of the late 1970s and early 1980s. More info here: https://benbrooksmarketing.com.