Mark Schulman (born September 4, 1961, in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician, music producer,

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

and corporate speaker who has performed with Foreigner,

Pink Pink is a pale tint of red, the color of the Dianthus plumarius, pink flower. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, p ...

and

Cher Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...

as their tour drummer for more than 30 years. Schulman is also a session drummer and co-owner of West Triad Studios, a recording venue located in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...

. Schulman is also a virtual and on-stage motivational speaker and published author.

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 The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

perform on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'', he knew he wanted to be a professional drummer and musician. 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.

Early career

Breaking into the professional music scene, in 1988 Schulman was the touring drummer for

Brenda Russell Brenda Russell (née Gordon; born April 8, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and keyboardist. Russell has a diverse musical range which encompasses Rhythm and blues, R&B, pop music, pop, soul music, soul, dance music, dance, and ...

doing a world tour opening up for

Billy Ocean Leslie Sebastian Charles (born 21 January 1950), known professionally as Billy Ocean, is a Trinidadian-born British singer and songwriter. Between 1976 and 1988, he had a series of hit songs in the UK and internationally. After releasing sev ...

. Schulman continued to work with many Smooth Jazz artists including

Dave Koz David Stephen Koz (born March 27, 1963) is an American saxophonist, composer, record producer, and radio personality based in Los Angeles, California. Early life Dave Koz was born in Encino, California, to Jewish parents: Norman, a dermatologis ...

and

Bobby Caldwell Robert Hunter Caldwell (August 15, 1951 – March 14, 2023) was an American singer and songwriter. He released several albums spanning R&B, soul, jazz, and adult contemporary. He is known for his soulful and versatile vocals. Caldwell release ...

and branching into large rock tours with

Richard Marx Richard Noel Marx (born September 16, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Marx's first number one success as a songwriter came in 1984 with " What About Me?", which was recorded by Kenny Rogers ...

, Foreigner and

Simple Minds Simple Minds are a Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in Glasgow in 1977, becoming best known internationally for their song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (1985), which topped the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 ...

playing on their album '' Good News from the Next World''. Schulman has toured and recorded with international artists such as Udo Lindenberg and Eikicki Yazawa

Touring with Pink and Cher

From 2006 to 2021, Schulman was the touring drummer for international singer and performer,

. Schulman also did numerous tours with

from 1999 through 2017.

Interviews

In August 2013, Schulman gave an interview for German magazine, Sticks. In 2014, Schulman was interviewed by Fortune Magazine's Robert Hackett in an article called, 'How to Survive Touring with Superstars" 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 Pink, to the band, to the audience, to the crew. My nickname Pink 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 beacon of pocitivity and bring that positivity.

Featured in magazines for drummers

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 Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

Drummers in the "Modern Drummer Reader's Poll" in 2014. Artist Pink 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"

Equipment endorsements

Schulman has been an official endorser of various musical instruments including

Gretsch Gretsch is an American company that manufactures and markets musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Fri ...

drums, Sabian cymbals,

Vic Firth Everett Joseph "Vic" Firth (June 2, 1930 – July 26, 2015) was an American musician and the founder of Vic Firth Company (formerly Vic Firth, Inc.), a company that makes percussion sticks and mallets. He was also known for his association ...

drumsticks,

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumheads, drums, and drum hardware, hardware, and various percussio ...

drum heads,

Toca TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in the United Kingdom. The company organises and administers the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) and the support series to the BTCC, sometimes known as the ...

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.

Recent projects

In 2022, Schulman retired as a drummer with

's band to work full time on his own business becoming a virtual and on-stage motivational keynote speaker. Recently with his partner and neurocoach, Heather Crider they created the program EVERYDAY ROCKSTAR which highlights the intersection of rock n roll and simple neuroscience. Schulman has delivered over 2,000 keynote performances for Fortune 500 clients including Microsoft, Dell, IBM, McDonalds, Re/Max, Prudential and a plethora of associations.

Writing projects

Schulman is the author of two books, ''Conquering Life's Stage Fright: Three Steps to Top Performance'' and ''The Attitude Equation'' which he co-wrote with Dr. Jim Samuels

References

External links

Official Mark Schulman websiteVic Firth story on Mark Schulman''Drum Magazine''s web site article "In the Studio with Mark Schulman"''Drummer Zone'' interview''Fortune Magazine''Extreme Biz Dev Podcast Ep 20
*
''Sticks Magazine'' cover August 2013West Triad (Recording) StudiosMark Schulman interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (2020)
''Drummer World'' Article – Includes videos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulman, Mark 1961 births Living people Drummers from Los Angeles People from Venice, Los Angeles 20th-century American drummers 21st-century American drummers American male drummers American rock drummers American pop musicians American motivational speakers Clock (American band) members