Ruby Mazur
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{short description|American painter}}
{{Infobox artist
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| known_for = Album art design, painting
| notable_works = {{unbulleted list|Thousands of album covers during the 1970s, including "Tumbling Dice"|Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory soundtrack cover}}
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| website = {{URL|rubymazurgallery.com}}
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| occupation = {{unbulleted list|Former art director for Famous Music|Former art director for ABC-Dunhill|Former Paramount director of art}}
| children = Monet Mazur, Matisse, Cezanne, Miro{{Cite news|url=https://lasvegassun.com/news/2004/aug/19/a-real-gem-pop-artist-ruby-mazur-leads-charmed-lif/|title=A Real Gem: Pop artist Ruby Mazur leads charmed life in LV|date=August 19, 2004|work=LasVegasSun.com|access-date=February 19, 2018|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160830045759/http://lasvegassun.com/news/2004/aug/19/a-real-gem-pop-artist-ruby-mazur-leads-charmed-lif/|archive-date=August 30, 2016|url-status=live}}
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Ruby Mazur is an American artist who has created the cover art of over 3,000 albums for artists including The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Sarah Vaughn, Elton John and Ray Charles.
- {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWVULAJHOqUC&pg=PA150|title=Cocinando!: Fifty Years of Latin Album Cover Art|last=Yglesias|first=Pablo|date=January 27, 2005|publisher=Princeton Architectural Press|isbn=9781568984605|language=en}}
- {{cite news|url=http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2004/MERC-Sep-30-Thu-2004/24864956.html|title=No Moss|last=Bond|first=Tiffannie|date=September 30, 2004|work=Las Vegas Mercury|accessdate=June 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041010225410/http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2004/MERC-Sep-30-Thu-2004/24864956.html|archivedate=October 10, 2004}} He is a former art director for Famous Music (1970),{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dCkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA86|title=Billboard|date=June 6, 1970|language=en}} ABC-Dunhill (1972),{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4g8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA12|title=Billboard|date=November 11, 1972|language=en}} and Paramount Records.
Early life and education
Career
In 1995, he hosted an event for Billboard, during which they called him a "world famous artist."
- {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA4|title=Billboard|date=April 29, 1995|language=en}}
- {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA91|title=Billboard|date=May 6, 1995|language=en}}
- {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA4|title=Billboard|date=April 29, 1995|language=en}} Mazur created "thousands" of album covers during the 1970s. These covers included The Rolling Stones' 1972 single, "Tumbling Dice",{{Cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/artist-who-created-tongue-logo-calls-jagger-a-very-bad-guy/|title=Artist who created tongue logo calls Jagger "a very bad guy"|date=March 22, 2014|work=Fox News|access-date=August 16, 2017|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816150644/http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2014/03/22/artist-who-created-tounge-logo-calls-jagger-very-bad-guy.html|archive-date=August 16, 2017|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6AsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA108|title=Billboard|date=April 8, 1995|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Berger|first=John|date=2021-04-11|title=Clipped From Honolulu Star-Advertiser|pages=D3|work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78365112/honolulu-star-advertiser/|access-date=2021-05-26}} and albums by B.B. King, Jimmy Buffett, Dave Mason, Dusty Springfield, and Elton John. Mazur also created the cover for the soundtrack to the 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. While at ABC-Dunhill, Mazur received the Art Directors Award for the Illustration West Competition for his cover design for Curtis Mayfield's "His Early Years With The Impressions".{{Cite news|date=1973-05-01|title=Ruby Mazur Art Directors Award for the Illustration West Competition|pages=63|work=The Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78365462/ruby-mazur-art-directors-award-for-the/|access-date=2021-05-26}}
In a 2004 interview with the Las Vegas Sun, Mazur cited the increasingly "formula[ic]" creation of album covers which started during the late 1980s as the reason that he started painting. In the mid 1990s, he created a painting of a model with a cigar in her hand {{Em dash}} a suggested addition by a friend {{Em dash}} that was purchased by Saudi Arabian Prince Mohammed Al-sudairy before the paint had dried. When compact discs and cassette tapes replaced vinyl, Mazur moved to creating "surrealistic works".{{Cite news|date=1992-11-19|title=Clipped From Daily News|pages=6|work=Daily News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/78365819/daily-news/|access-date=2021-05-26}}
In August 2022, Mazur was planning to open a gallery in Lahaina when the 2023 Hawaii wildfires occurred, destroying the building and 100 of his paintings;{{Cite news |title=Maui wildfires death toll rises to at least 67 - Anderson Cooper 360 - Podcast on CNN Audio |url=https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/anderson-cooper-360/episodes/a0998b97-6de0-4fa4-b298-b05c00862776 |access-date=2023-08-13 |website=CNN |language=en-US}} the paintings were his "life-long work of 50 years."{{Cite news |last=Robertson |first=Nick |date=2023-08-12 |title=Pop art legendary artist loses ‘life’s work’ in Maui wildfires |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4149947-pop-art-legendary-artist-loses-lifes-work-in-maui-wildfires/ |access-date=2023-08-13 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}
= Tongue and Mouth disputed authorship =
The authorship of the Rolling Stones' "Tongue and Mouth" logo is a matter of dispute. While The New York Times{{Cite news|last=Bekhrad|first=Joobin|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/arts/design/rolling-stones-logo-anniversary.html|title=How the 'Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World' Got Its Logo|date=April 13, 2020|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 29, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} and others have previously stated that John Pasche created it, period sources have indicated otherwise. New York Daily News, Florida Today, and CNN state it was Mazur who created the logo,{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49692206/daily-news/|title=Clipped From Daily News|date=November 9, 1994|work=Daily News|access-date=April 29, 2020|pages=17}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49692426/daily-news/|title=Clipped From Daily News|date=November 19, 1992|work=Daily News|access-date=April 29, 2020|pages=102}} while the Ottawa Citizen has listed both Mazur and Andy Warhol as probable creators.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49693175/headline-tongue-twist-ill-take-genes/|title=Headline: Tongue twist: I'll take Gene's|date=July 30, 2003|work=Florida Today|access-date=April 29, 2020|pages=35}}
= Feud with Jagger =
Since the 1980s, Mazur has been in a feud with Mick Jagger after Jagger allegedly refused to give him trademark rights to the "Tumbling Dice" cover, which he created. He was paid $10,000 by Jagger for the artwork, but says he asked several times for Jagger to give him the rights to the trademarked art. In the 1990s, Mazur attempted to sue Jagger for trademark infringement, but the statute of limitations had passed. It is estimated he could have earned in excess of $100 million from the album art if he possessed the trademark rights.
After the suicide of Jagger's girlfriend L'Wren Scott in 2014,{{Cite news|last=Day|first=Elizabeth|url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/jun/22/lwren-scott-mysterious-suicide-of-mick-jaggers-girlfriend|title=L'Wren Scott: the mysterious suicide of Mick Jagger's girlfriend|date=June 22, 2014|work=The Observer|access-date=April 24, 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0029-7712}} in an interview with Page Six afterwards, Mazur called Jagger a "very bad guy", and stated he succumbed to depression and suicidal ideation when he could not get the trademark to his artwork from Jagger.
"In the late '80s, I was living in New York, going to the clubs and being introduced as the creator of the ‘mouth and tongue’ for the Stones, and then go home to my dumpy apartment. I was balls-off-my-ass broke, having created the most famous logo in the world." - Ruby Mazur
Personal life
Mazur has four children. His daughter Monet is an American actress and model. He moved from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Gilbert, Arizona, in 2006.{{cite news |last1=Perera |first1=Srianthi |title=Artist who drew Stones' 'silly' mouth drops into Gilbert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/125792831/ |accessdate=April 27, 2020 |work=Arizona Republic |date=June 8, 2006 |page=165 |language=en}} He currently lives in Maui, Hawaii{{cite web |last1=Mazur |first1=Ruby |title=Bio |url=http://rubymazurgallery.com/bio.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730190502/http://rubymazurgallery.com/bio.html |archive-date=July 30, 2019 |website=rubymazurgallery.com}} and is a three-time cancer survivor.