Elliot Rubinson obit

Elliott Rubinson, CEO of Dean Guitars, Armadillo, Passes at 62

 

He was not on the list.

Elliott Rubinson, longtime owner of Thoroughbred Music and founder of Armadillo Enterprises, passed away February 6 after a battle with cancer. He was 62.

Rubinson was 21 when, in 1975, he converted a side gig selling used musical instruments out of his basement into a 700-square-foot building in Tampa and called it Thoroughbred Music. In ’93, he bought the renowned Kapok Pavilion, in Clearwater, which had been built in the ’50s as the Clearwater Kapok Tree Inn and became a major tourist destination that included souvenir and gift shops along with a nationall recognized restaurant. Rubinson converted the 87,000-square-foot facility to an elaborate vintage-instrument store. Eventually, Thoroughbred had six locations and published a widely read retail catalog.

In ’94, Rubinson founded Armadillo Enterprises to build flight and tour cases. The business expanded to become a distributor of guitars, basses, and drum products. In ’97, the company purchased Dean Guitars, then co-founded Luna Guitars in addition to purchasing ddrum in ’05. In ’99, Rubinson sold the Thoroughbred chain to Sam Ash Music to focus his attention on expanding business at Armadillo.

As a kid, Rubinson took to playing bass in order to keep his spot in the neighborhood band. At first, he plunked on a converted Kimberly guitar before finding a Beatle-bass copy. Unlike many musicians who transition to the corporate side of the industry and give up their Bohemian lifestyle, Rubinson managed to live the dream as a performing musician and successfully run his companies. For several years, he played live shows with Michael Angelo Batio, Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Vinnie Moore, and Black Star Riders. While on the road, he would spend days tending to company business via phone and internet, then play gigs in the evening.

At the end of 2016, Rubinson named his son, Evan, president and CEO of Armadillo.

Elliott Rubinson fell in love with the bass at the age of 12 and played it every waking moment as he grew up in Queens, New York, in the rock era of the 1960s. He toured with a number of bands and eventually decided to start his own music store in Florida so he could spend his days immersed in music as well as his performing nights. Thoroughbred Music was opened in 1976 and branched out to create and develop Elliott’s own line of products including Dean Guitars and DDrums. Elliott sold the stores in 1999 to focus on music wholesale, which is when he formed Armadillo Enterprises.  He passed away on February 6, 2017 at the young age of just 62.

Richard Ash, president of Sam Ash Music, was a long-time friend of Rubinson's. He offered the following tribute:

"My friend Elliott. I first met Elliott when I auditioned to be in his band back in the early '70s. We practiced in my parent's basement. He played bass. I played lead guitar. He was bright and witty with a great sense of humor. We were both big fans of the hard rock band Cactus and basically rehearsed playing all the songs on their album. We also had something else in common. Elliott, at the age of 19, already had a thriving business buying and selling music gear out of his house, listing the items on 'Buy Lines' which was the eBay of its day. I was subsequently thrown out of the band and we lost touch.

"Six or so years later, I find out that he had opened a major music store in Tampa called Thoroughbred Music. He was extremely smart and started expanding his business rapidly. In a relatively short time he had become one of the largest musical instrument retailers in the country. He had six powerful stores and a thriving mail-order business. He had no partners and no family in the business. He did this all by himself—he was a brilliant businessman. I admired him greatly. During this time, he also got into the wholesale side and started acquiring brands including the Dean Guitars and ddrum brands. He was also kind of a real estate magnate as well. He still currently owns the 45,000-square-foot building in Clearwater that houses a Sam Ash as well as countless other holdings.