The story of Clair Brothers starts in 1954, when a grocer decided to purchase a PA system as a Christmas gift for his two sons, Gene and Roy Clair.

“He had no knowledge of electronics or anything!” exclaimed Roy Clair of the extremely unusual present.

“I like to think my father was ‘Clair’-voyent in choosing this as a gift.”

The two brothers enjoyed using their PA to provide sound reinforcement for local dances, Easter egg hunts, etc.“The PA bug had bitten us!”

In 1963, Gene and Roy had purchased a loudspeaker re-coning business from a local music store.

This allowed them to acquire loudspeakers at the dealer level, granting the opportunity to build them for a local music store in Lancaster.

When musicians would visit from out of town to purchase loudspeakers, such as Baltimore’s Billy Joel Royal, it allowed Roy and Gene to go hear their products in use at local clubs.

“It was extremely gratifying, and I believe it was then that we realized that working with musicians would somehow be a fun career.

It was the same time we realized that having fun while making money was possible.”

F&M, a local liberal arts college in Lancaster, PA soon requested the brothers’ services to support headlining acts.

Now working in a 4,000-seat facility, one of the largest in the area, the duo would see their first brush with fame in 1966 when Dionne Warwick performed at the college.

Roy and Gene Clair their Audio Precision test gear.

“At the time, we had a Bogen MX-60, a few Shure microphones, and two column loudspeakers containing six 8-inch full-range loudspeakers each.

The concert went well, but looking back, we were lucky to start with an easy listening performer or things may have gone entirely different!

Roy and Gene with their 1967 Four Seasons audio rig.

Timing and luck is something that has stayed with us our entire careers.”

Not long after working with Warwick, the brothers’ path would cross with Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at the F&M venue.

Valli showed a vested interest in the duo’s Voice of the Theater A7-500 loudspeakers, particularly since the group had just performed in Miami, FL, and were denied the use of another artists’ sound reinforcement system.

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