Rick Rubin

Rick Rubin (born Frederick Jay Rubin on March 10, 1963) is an American record producer and record executive whose influence spans hip‑hop, rock, metal, country and pop music. Growing up in a Jewish family in Long Beach, New York, Rubin discovered an early fascination with sound while taking guitar lessons and forming punk bands such as the Pricks, an experience that culminated in a notorious CBGB incident that helped generate buzz for his early career. While attending New York University, he co‑founded Def Jam Recordings with Russell Simmons, releasing the label’s first single in 1982 and later shaping the sound of pioneering rap acts like LL Cool J, Run‑DMC, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy, often blending gritty beats with hard‑rock guitar riffs. Rubin’s legendary 1986 production of Run‑DMC’s collaboration with Aerosmith on “Walk This Way” is credited with breaking rap into mainstream consciousness and reviving Aerosmith’s commercial fortunes. In 1988 he left Def Jam and launched Def American (later American Recordings), where his minimalist, “stripped‑down” production philosophy revitalized the career of Johnny Cash through a series of critically acclaimed albums that highlighted raw vocal performance over elaborate arrangements. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s Rubin expanded his repertoire, producing multi‑platinum records for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Slayer, System of a Down, Adele, and the Chicks, earning multiple Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year. Known for his calming presence, meditation practice since age fourteen, and preference for barefoot studio sessions, Rubin continues to influence generations of artists while also authoring the 2023 book The Creative Act: A Way of Being and hosting the “Tetragrammaton” podcast. He resides in Malibu with his wife, Mourielle Hurtado Herrera, and their son, born in 2017.