Biography of Sue Auclair

About Sue Auclair

Sue Auclair arrived in Boston in 1967 to attend the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music. In her hometown of Cumberland, Rhode Island, Sue had earned honors while multi-tasking as soprano (often soloist) in the school choir, designing concert posters and editing the yearbook, acting in theater productions. At NEC, Sue performed and toured the east and west coasts of the USA with the award-winning Conservatory Chorus, which recorded and performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall, under the batons of Eric Leinsdorf and Seiji Ozawa. Studying in NEC’s newly formed jazz division under the tutelage of Carl Atkins, George Russell and Jaki Byard, Sue became NEC’s first graduate to earn a double voice major in classical and jazz. Meanwhile, she worked regularly in Boston area clubs and later was awarded several jazz grants from the National Endowment for The Arts.

After 10 years of winning awards and critical acclaim as a jazz and pop vocalist, the energetic, hard-working singer made a career decision to delve into jazz booking and artist management. In 1980, Auclair was "discovered" by Boston’s First Night, America’s premiere New Year’s Eve arts festival, not for her singing talents, nor booking skills, but for her unmistakable gift for promotion, marketing and publicity. Zeren Earls, manager of First Night, called Sue to say, "I like your style. How would you like to be First Night’s Director of Public Relations?"

That’s how Sue got the dream job she wasn’t even looking for! Suddenly, Auclair was swept into the exciting world of public relations, handling press coverage and appearing on television and radio in advance of this incredible New Years event. Within one week, Auclair was on the news of every Boston TV network affiliate, local talk shows and on radio news live and on tape, doing live color commenting on the First Night Procession and the 100 live performances going on all over the city.

Auclair’s dynamic "PR" business had begun . . . by accident! "I thought I wanted to be a famous singer," says Auclair, "but the public relations world captured my heart. I soon decided that PR was even more fun than being on stage!"

Concert promoters, record labels, a school of performing arts, dance companies, rock bands, all took notice. Sue Auclair, Publicity! was born.

In 1981, legendary promoter Fred Taylor -- of Boston’s Jazz Workshop & Paul’s Mall fame -- hired Auclair to handle the "comeback" of jazz icon Miles Davis, who’d been off the scene for seven years due to illness. Miles had decided to publicly "rehearse" in Boston as an “off-Broadway warm-up” date for his New York re-debut at Lincoln Center. But it was the Boston event that grabbed all the first headlines. Ranks of the press from around the globe swarmed to the Kix Club – a makeshift concert stage set up in an abandoned disco. When Miles and Cicely Tyson cruised up to curb in a yellow Ferrari Testarossa, Hollywood pandemonium broke loose. The crowd screamed, "WE WANT MILES!" Opening night was a knock-down screaming boffo, the band played two packed sets ‘til 2 am, the crowd demanding encore after encore. Thus the exhilarating word went out worldwide: Miles Davis was baaack!

From that point, word also spread of the publicity talents of Sue Auclair. Her energy, her enthusiasm for all types of music, her love for the musicians and other creative artists was deep, savvy, and infectious. At least as important, Sue’s flair, organization, honesty and thoroughness made critical contributions in her abilities to promote talent and stimulate media buzz.

Fred Taylor’s HT Productions hired Auclair to handle its entire concert roster and Taylor referred her to Festival Productions in New York. Soon Auclair was also overseeing publicity for George Wein’s monumental operations: JVC Jazz Festival-Newport, the Newport Folk Festival, as well as the Boston Globe Jazz Festival.

When Windham Hill Records hired Auclair to handle East Coast publicity in 1982, Sue’s tireless skills brought the tiny record company national press with breakthrough new age acts like George Winston and Will Ackerman. The Wall Street Journal and The Today Show (to name the most prominent) reported glowingly on the fledgling label. Record sales skyrocketed by 800% in six months.

Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Bennett, Jay Leno, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughn, Nancy Wilson, Ray Brown, Tito Puente, Arturo Sandoval, Branford Marsalis, Pat Metheny are only the most prominent in the portfolio of artists who Auclair publicized with great enthusiasm and success. The Folk Festival in Newport brought Joan Baez, The Indigo Girls, Nanci Griffith, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, and many others in folk, rock, pop, and blues under her wing. Bob Dylan’s 2001 return to Newport -- with backstage visits from Richard Gere, Al Gore and the Hell’s Angels -- was one of Sue’s career highlights.

A glittering boîte high over Kenmore Square, the Starlight Roof, hired Sue in 1983. There she created promotions and devised hilarious publicity garnering talent contests that enthused major press throughout Boston and New England. The penthouse club – seating only 90 people – got a publicity campaign worthy of a much larger venue. Select clientele came for the classy cabaret, country folk, cool jazz, and swing artists, like the hilarious Vance Gilbert, singers Carol Sloane and Annie Ross, and pianist/impresario George Wein.

In the late ‘80s, Auclair was instrumental in creating one of Boston’s premiere jazz clubs, Scullers Jazz Club. After co-booking the venue for a year, she introduced her old pal promoter Fred Taylor to the spot and together the two built the 200-seat venue overlooking the Charles River into the nationally known jazz club it is today. Stars like Eartha Kitt, Branford Marsalis, Bobby Short, Joe Pass, Harry Connick, Jr., Grover Washington Jr., are prominent among the hundreds of artists who benefited from Auclair’s ‘Midas touch’ at Scullers over 11 years!

When Festival Productions created the Rhythm & Blues Festival in Newport in 1995, they hired Auclair to represent such enduring black divas as Aretha Franklin, La Vern Baker, Phoebe Snow, Etta James, Patti LaBelle and Ruth Brown. This festival, though short lived (three years) was nevertheless an important milestone in the history of American rhythm and blues.

Many other projects blossomed under Auclair’s care and diligence: The Whole Life Expo, Boston Against AIDS, Gramavision Records, The Barry L. Price Rehabilitation Center [a non-profit offering special adult services], Walnut Hill School of Performing Arts, Great Northeast Productions, The Around Town Network, Box Office Video, The Boston Music Awards, St. Barth Properties, Music Entertainment Group, The Empowerment Network, The Civic Symphony Orchestra, The New Philharmonia Orchestra, Impulse Dance Company, and an assortment of delightful and outstanding events, organizations, companies and productions.

-Fred Bouchard