Enrico Rosenbaum

Who is Enrico Rosenbaum?

Enrico Rosenbaum was an American songwriter, arranger, producer, guitarist and singer. 'Rico' was a founding member of Minneapolis-Saint Paul bands The Escapades and later as The Underbeats, then renamed in 1969 as Gypsy.

Enrico was raised in St. Paul’s Highland Park, a middle to upper-middle-class neighborhood. Enrico’s mother and father were both concentration camp survivors. His mother, Ida, was musically inclined herself and performed locally as a club singer, singing songs from the 20’ and 30’s. Ida was the primary bread winner of the family. She worked as a seamstress at a local Sears Store.

Enrico’s father, Hubert was a wonderful charming man. Prior to the Nazi scourge he was a very successful businessman who lost everything during the war. The concentration camps left him in poor health but he was able to work in the United States as a real estate agent. Hubert was a very dapper man, a real old world gentleman who would tip his hat to women and offer a broad smile.

As a result of his parent’s background, Enrico was fluent in several languages. It was not unusual to hear heated discussions between Enrico and his mother in Italian or one of the other languages he could speak. Ida was able to communicate in six different languages and was very fluent in all of them.