Life in the Key of Rubini

Life in the Key of Rubini is a high-flying, heartfelt, and gripping memoir about Michel Rubini’s days of hit-making, hell-raising, and skirt-chasing within a Hollywood music scene sadly long gone. Between playing on smashes such as “Strangers in the Night,” “I Got You Babe,” and “Unchained Melody” to involvements with gorgeous film and TV performers such as Raquel Welch, Joanna Moore, and Lynda Carter (i.e. Wonder Woman), the evidence is clear: Michel Rubini has led the kind of life that few could ever imagine, and to prove it, check out the over two dozen rare, personal photos featured in the book.

The classically-trained son of a world-famous violinist and a Hollywood actress, the free-spirited Rubini became the very personification of the Swinging Sixties. With off-the-chart piano-playing skills, movie-star good looks, and a rakish, devil-may-care attitude, his success as part of the legendary Wrecking Crew session musicians only equaled his astonishing appeal among a very willing portion of the female population. For a remarkable period, seemingly few gold records were recorded in LA without him and even fewer starlets were able to resist him. As the saying goes, there are two great days in every person’s life: the day they are born and the day they discover why. Unlike most, however, Michel Rubini has always known exactly why he was born.

Michel Rubini, an acclaimed pianist and composer, was a member of the legendary Wrecking Crew session musicians in Los Angeles during the sixties and early seventies. In addition, he served as Nancy Wilson, Johnny Mathis and Sonny & Cher’s longtime musical director, and also composed the soundtracks for dozens of films and TV series, including Manhunter, Tales from the Crypt, and perhaps most notably, the long-running Hitchhiker mystery anthology on HBO. Rubini is now retired and lives in Palm Springs, California.