Mark Schulman

Last updated
Mark Schulman
Mark Schulman 00.jpg
Background information
Born (1961-09-04) September 4, 1961 (age 63)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres Pop, rock, funk, jazz fusion, R&B
Occupation(s)Musician, speaker, music producer, composer, engineer, studio owner
InstrumentDrums
Years active1986–present
Website markschulman.com

Mark Schulman (born September 4, 1961, in Los Angeles, California, USA) is an American musician, music producer, audio engineer and corporate speaker who has performed with Foreigner, Pink and Cher as their tour drummer for more than 20 years. Schulman is also a session drummer and co-owner of West Triad Studios, a recording venue located in Venice, California. Schulman is also a virtual and on-stage motivational speaker and published author. [1]

Contents

Childhood and education

Schulman was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. In a 2012 interview, he explained that by age 3, after seeing the Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, he knew he wanted to be a professional drummer and musician. [2]

Born the son of two college English professors, Schulman is a classically trained cellist. As a teen, he played cello with the Los Angeles Junior Philharmonic. He was a childhood friend of Grammy-nominated guitarist David Becker. [3]

Early career

Breaking into the professional music scene, by the mid-1990s, Schulman was the drummer for the band Simple Minds on their album Good News from the Next World and toured with them after the album reached number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. Schulman returned to session work at the end of the tour. [4] Schulman also toured with the band Foreigner in 1993.

Touring with P!nk and Cher

JustLikeAPillFunHouse JustLikeAPillFunHouse.jpg
JustLikeAPillFunHouse

From 2006 to 2021, Schulman was the tour drummer for international singer and performer, P!nk. In March 2014, Mark was the tour drummer for Cher's 6th "Dressed to Kill (D2K) tour."

Interviews

In August 2013, Schulman gave an interview for German magazine, Sticks. [5]

In 2014, Schulman was interviewed by Fortune Magazine's Robert Hackett in an article called, 'How to Survive Touring with Superstars" [6]

In a 2021 interview with Chris Cohen in "Bands to Fans," Schulman said, "I look at my job as being of service. I’m in the service industry... When I get on stage, I’m there to be of service to P!nk, to the band, to the audience, to the crew. My nickname P!nk gave me years ago is 'Disneyland: The happiest place on earth.' One of the things that drew her to me, in addition to my playing, was my ability to just be a light beam and bring that positivity. [7]

During his career as a musician, Schulman was featured in numerous drummer's magazines. He made the cover of Modern Drummer Magazine's May 2019 issue and was featured in an article, "Mark Schulman - Lifting the Vibe."

Schulman was voted One of the Top 3 Pop Rock Drummers in the "Modern Drummer Reader's Poll" in 2014.

Artist P!nk described Schulman in the May 2019 issue of Modern Drummer, artist, saying, "Mark has been a special part of my band for twelve-plus years" [8]

Equipment endorsements

Mark Schulman 01.jpg

Schulman has been an official endorser of various musical instruments including Gretsch drums, [9] Sabian cymbals, Vic Firth drumsticks, Remo drum heads, Toca percussion, and Sennheiser microphones.

Other projects

In 2010, Schulman was the founder, co-owner, audio engineer, and music producer of West Triad Studios in Venice, California. [10]

Recent projects

In 2022, Schulman retired as a drummer with P!nk's band to work full time on his own business becoming a virtual and on-stage motivational keynote speaker. This on occasion includes demonstrations of his famous drumming techniques. Schulman's most recent appearance was at NCPDP's 2024 Annual Technology & Business Conference, "Innovation Starts Here". [11]

Writing projects

Schulman is the author of "Conquering Life’s Stage Fright: Three Steps to Top Performance." In this book, Schulman uses his 30 plus year career performing for more than a billion people. In Schulman's web site, he indicates that Through entertaining stories and innovative exercises, this book revealed "three core concepts that readers can immediately employ to transform their anxieties, no matter what type of presentation, communication or performance is causing them, into a confident, world-class performance." [12]

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References

  1. Schulman, Mark (August 2015). Conquering Life's Stage Fright: Three Steps to Top Performance. JETTY JEWELS Incorporated. ISBN   978-0-9966594-0-6.
  2. "Gretsch Artist Profiles – With Mark Schulman", Gretsch Drummers Magazine, June 2012, retrieved February 3, 2014
  3. Constantin, Dave (June 2011), "In The Studio With Mark Schulman", Drum! Magazine, archived from the original on May 2, 2012, retrieved January 31, 2014
  4. 'Simple Minds - Online Biography, The New Touch 92.6 FM, p. 2, archived from the original on 2015-01-22, retrieved January 21, 2015
  5. Schulman, Mark (August 2013), "Mark Schulman, Power Drummer with P!ink", Sticks, p. 12, retrieved March 13, 2015
  6. Hacket, Robert (August 2014), "How to survive touring with Superstars", Fortune, p. 12, retrieved March 13, 2023
  7. Cohen, Chris (August 2021), "why p!nk nicknamed drummer mark schulman disneyland", Bands to Fans, p. 12, retrieved March 13, 2023
  8. Amendola, Billy (May 2019), "P!nk's Mark Schulman", Modern Drummer, p. 12, retrieved March 13, 2023
  9. "Gretsch Artist Profiles – With Mark Schulman", Gretsch Drummers Magazine, June 2012, retrieved February 3, 2014
  10. Schulman, Mark (June 2010), West Triad Studios , retrieved January 23, 2015
  11. "NCPDP Announces Rockstar Mark Schulman - Drummer for P!NK - as Keynote Speaker for Its 2024 Annual Conference, "Innovation Starts Here"". Yahoo Finance. 2024-02-22. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
  12. Schulman, Mark (August 2013), "Mark Schulman, the author", markschulman.com, p. 12, retrieved April 7, 2023