Greg Ruban Berlin Biography
It is with great regret to say that Barry (Greg) Ruban has passed suddenly, on January 18, 2008 at Shore Memorial Hospital, at age 61 yrs. Born and raised in East Camden, NJ, Barry worked as an electrician for both his father and later his brother Ronald, Sr. After completing his apprenticeship in the family business, Barry went to work as an Electrician for the County of Camden and finally retiring from the NJ State Highway Department. Barry served in the NJ National Guard during the 1960's and was called to action during the Newark Urban Crisis. Barry was a pro Volley Ball player throughout South Jersey, where he was known in the arena as 'Greg Schultz,' and an organizer of many YMCA tournaments in Camden and Ocean City. He toured Europe by motorcycle and was often traveling somewhere of interest in his own ways. In addition to his traveling and sports, Barry had an interest in music, especially Rock that led to recordings with his band in East Camden.
Greg Ruban, the authentic composer of the album Victoria is coming out this year with a new release of his updated Victoria album. It will include add-ons from his unheard Nickels & Dimes 1968 album plus some of his newest works. Greg is re-emerging as a writer, though legally speech deaf without amplifiers.
His legal name is Grigory Ruban Berlin and also has been known as Barry Lee Ruban. Greg started writing music in 1967, but stopped in 1970 to pursue a professional sports career spanning over twenty years. Playing sports as Greg Shultz, he was the oldest East coast player to qualify for professional status in 1986. He retired from regular Employment and sports in 1996 with a disability pension due to severe hearing loss, leg injuries, and arthritis. His hearing loss was partially attributed to his military service as a 106 Recoilless Rifle gunner and as an expert marksman. His military service ended about the time he participated in the March on Washington in 1970. These experiences influenced his many peace ballads.
In 2002, Grigory decided to try to resume his musical career using amplified headphones with a goal to create a library of diversified themes before doing any pitching. He recently decided to begin this difficult process having been down that road thirty years ago. Only in the past five years have his early works (1967 - 1970) gained worldwide recognition in the collector's market such as in “Details Magazine”, March, 2001 edition. Unpublished limited edition LP’s sold out in two weeks and continued to be sold as CD’s. Greg never felt that the music would amount to anything because of the limited time and resources available when he produced it.
Greg also gave permission for recent works to be performed at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and Christmas plays at local churches. Mr. Berlin is a bachelor that resides in his studio with his cat in Marmora (West Ocean City, NJ). Greg formed his company, Berlin Arts and Music Corp, in 2001.
