MARCH 7 • 2024 | 49 Broadway-style musical and that camp has auditions and lasts two weeks. ” A LOVE OF MUSIC For Grekin, who is 52, opening a music school came naturally, as playing instru- ments, singing and writing songs have always been a big part of his life. While in elementary school in Ann Arbor, Grekin began playing the trumpet and piano. “I would play piano and write songs by age 11, ” he recalls. “My mom wanted me to perform and would have me play in front of family and friends, and she would sign me up for open mic nights around town. ” While a senior at Huron High School, his mom, Linda Grekin, took one of his recordings and entered it into a contest called Quest for Excellence at WJR Radio in Detroit. “It was a vocal competition — a Detroit version of Star Search, ” recalls Grekin. “My mom entered me without me knowing! For the competition I played the piano and sang songs I wrote. I made it into the semifinals and finals that took place at the Fisher Theatre, and I came in fourth place.. I performed in front of a huge audi- ence. It was a great experience. ” After high school, Grekin attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he honed his skills, performed with bands, and started his own rock band. To earn money, he performed at weddings and bar mitzvahs. While still in college, Grekin had the opportunity to play with Motown’s The Temptations. “That was a blast” he says. “I was able to play with them one other time as well. The Temptations are one of those bands who pick up a horn section while on the road. ” After graduating, Grekin remained in Boston for five years and performed all over the Northeast as a freelance musician. Briefly, he played the trumpet on a Holland American cruise ship, sailing around Alaska and then the Caribbean. To advance his career, Grekin made his way to the Netherlands. “I moved to Rotterdam because I had been in an exchange program there when I was at Berklee and knew a lot of people there, ” he says. “I was able to tour around Europe playing with different bands. I played with Miko Weaver, who was Prince’s guitar play- er. (Weaver had resided in Rotterdam for a couple of years, playing at clubs and record- ing songs.) After Europe, Grekin, who was already an established jazz musician, returned to the United States and settled in New York City. “I had gotten into hip-hop and rap, and New York City was the hub for both of those. ” To further his education, Grekin went on to earn a master’s degree in jazz perfor- mance at the Manhattan School of Music. As a freelance musician in New York, he was able to play at events, hook up with bands and perform at numerous venues. He became a music producer, worked part time in a recording studio, played the trumpet and had an original band called Shine Like the Sun. He also recorded music with Tony- Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown (Parade and The Bridges of Madison County) and Grammy Award-winning composer J. Walter Hawks. He worked at a theater company in the Bronx and, when the World Trade Center was attacked, Grekin was asked to write a musical for the kids to perform at Ground Zero. “We performed for the firefighters and police who were working there after 9/11 — we were all in tears. ” HOME TO ANN ARBOR In 2000, Grekin had married Deleska, a musician who had been a background sing- er for MCA Records and studying to be a psychologist. When she was accepted to a doctoral program at Indiana University in 2003, they relocated to Bloomington. It was there he opened his first school to teach youngsters music. “I started to develop a curriculum when I was in New York, and turned it into a business in Indiana, ” he says. When they moved to Ann Arbor in 2011 — along with their two daughters Maya and Zoey — Grekin’s goal was to open a music school in Michigan. “While I was renting space and devising an innovative and cre- ative curriculum, I wanted to get a Ph.D. in music education at Oakland University before trying to grow the business, ” he says. This month, he started the Grekin Music Booking Agency in Ann Arbor. He will be helping musicians get auditions, make connections, record their music, and play at concerts, clubs, weddings, bar mitzvahs and events. With a strong connection to Detroit, Grekin wants to reach out to the metropol- itan Detroit community. His parents, Roger and Linda Grekin, both 1961 Mumford High grads, were native Detroiters. Roger, who passed away in 2015, was an endocri- nologist at the University of Michigan hos- pital. Linda (Zitomer) is a retired educator who was a librarian at Hillel Day School in Farmington Hills. Roger’s father, Jack Grekin, was a renowned dermatologist in Detroit, and his wife, Zivia, was a teacher. Linda’s dad, Abe Zitomer, was an artist. Grekin, who had a bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Emeth, says Judaism is very important to him. “ Although I am a cultural Jew and my wife is Christian, the Jewish holidays and teachings are meaningful to me in a cultural and spiritual way, ” says Grekin, whose daughter Maya had a bat mitzvah at Temple Beth Emeth. “My wife grew up in the largest African American domination COGIC — Church of God in Christ — and it has wonderful music. And I love Jewish music. Our kids enjoy them both, ” For now, Grekin wants to continue expanding his music school and camps. “The kids seem to love it, ” he says. “They enjoy recitals and performing for friends and family, they love learning how to play multiple instruments and they love inter- acting with others and composing their own music. It is very rewarding seeing how excited the kids are to learn all about music and how to play instruments — it’s what I had hoped for. ” Josh Grekin Grekin School of Music and Little Bands Music 2145 Independence Blvd. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Phone: (734) 627-7107 Email: Staff@littlebandsmusic.com Website: www.littlebandsmusic.com