Rock 'n' Roll Massage

Jennifer Henrique never intended to massage rock stars. But she says that's what happens when "you do what you love, and you do it not for the money." For this massage therapist, who is also a chiropractor, this ardor—plus a winning niche of tandem massage—led to work with the biggest touring bands in the music industry, including U2, Madonna and The Rolling Stones.

Henrique graduated from chiropractic college in 1996, but says she felt like she wanted "to do something else." At the urging of a chiropractic patient, she enrolled in massage school and was immediately hooked. "I love chiropractic and I believe in chiropractic, but I'm passionate about massage," she says. Today she does both in her Clovis, California, office, where she also employs an esthetician and a personal trainer.

One day, while doing a two-hour deep-tissue massage on a muscle-bound client, Henrique called in her receptionist to lend an elbow. Something clicked. She had heard about tandem, or four-hand, massage, but never experienced it; that day she knew she was onto something. After creating a choreographed routine with the other therapists in her office, she began marketing her tandem-massage specialty locally. A friend who worked for a concert stadium offered to get her an interview, and soon she was being called in to work with bands touring through California.

"They first called me to work on Elton John, but he wanted a male therapist," she says, laughing. Then she was asked to do what she began calling the "celebrity tandem" massage on Toby Keith and his band. "They invited us to go to the [American Music Awards] with them, but we passed because we were exhausted. We massaged the band until midnight," she says.

Henrique says that bands often invite the therapists to "party on the tour bus," and hang out, but she declines. "I believe maintaining professionalism is really important," she says.

After working with Madonna's crew on the Confessions tour, Henrique and her therapists were invited to travel with the band to Arizona. They've gone to San Diego to work on U2, and to Los Angeles to work on Def Leppard and the Scorpions. Other names on Henrique's client list include the Eagles, Keith Urban and Rascal Flatts, among many other bands. "We have a reputation now," she says. "Promoters know about us and request us.

"I didn't see my career heading in this direction," she adds. "But I love the concert thing because I love the music; I love the environment."