Robyn Robins
Encyclopedia
Robyn Robins is an American rock and roll keyboardist, founding member of the Bob Seger
Silver Bullet Band, and the owner of a successful production studio servicing the music and film industries in the US and throughout Europe.
Robins entered the Detroit Conservatory of Music for piano at the age of seven and studied there seven years. By the time he was 15, he was working as a session keyboardist for Punch Andrews and for Motown Records
, Staxx Records and Hideout Records and various other independent pop labels. In a national music competition in Atlantic City, NJ, his band won third place playing one of Robin’s compositions. He toured with bands across the US, Canada and Europe, working with Sly and the Family Stone, The Platters, The Coasters and many others and accompanied Tiny Tim
on an NBC special. In 1970 Robins replaced keyboardist, Tim Lambert, in the Stuart Avery Assemblage
. With their new sound they soon had a hit single which reached #14 on the charts. Shortly after this success, the Assemblage split up and Robins joined Bob Seger with his new band, the Silver Bullet Band.
The Silver Bullet Band achieved their commercial breakthrough with 1976 album, Night Moves. Evocative and nostalgic, title song, "Night Moves (album)
” was critically praised and reached #4 as a hit single on the Billboard
pop charts. It became an album-oriented rock airplay mainstay. "Mainstreet", a #24 hit ballad, and AOR anthem "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" are also on this album. In 1978, Night Moves was followed up with album, Stranger in Town. The first single, "Still the Same" made the Top 5 on the pop singles chart. "Hollywood Nights" was an up-tempo Top 15 hit, while "We've Got Tonight" was a slow ballad that not only was a Top 15 hit on its own, but would become an adult contemporary favorite in years. The final single, 1979's "Old Time Rock & Roll", reached the Top 30, and achieved substantial AOR airplay. Due to its use in the 1983 film, Risky Business, it later became one of their most recognizable songs. Other tracks from Stranger in Town were equally strong, with "Feel Like a Number" being especially memorable for its raging powerless fury.
In 1980, Against the Wind was released and it became their first and only #1 album on the Billboard 200. First single "Fire Lake" featured Eagles Don Henley
, Timothy B. Schmit, and Frey on backing vocals and reached #6 on the singles chart, while the title song "Against the Wind" reached #5 as a single. "You'll Accomp'ny Me" became the third hit single from the record. Against the Wind won two Grammy Awards. Stranger in Town and Against the Wind were followed by the 1981 live album, Nine Tonight which encapsulated this three-album peak of their commercial career. Seger's take on Eugene Williams' "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" became a Top 5 hit from Nine Tonight and would go on to sell 4 million copies.
Night Moves was their first Top 10 album in the Billboard 200, and thirty years after its release, it had sold over 6 million copies in the U.S. Its long term commercial success activated sales of the band’s back catalog, so that Beautiful Loser would eventually sell 2 million and Live Bullet would sell 5 million copies in the U.S.
In 1980, Robins left the band and moved to Florida where he studied and worked as a studio musician, sound engineer and producer. After attending and Full Sail College and University of Central Florida in sound and film production and engineering, PhD in audio engineering, he eventually opened his own studio, Birdland Music Productions. He worked with the Bee Gees
, Wally Stocker
, Ronnie Wood and others. In 1992, he toured with The Commitments
and is featured in the film documenting that tour. He collaborated with Stanford University on a metacognition project at the Florida Dolphin Institute in Marathon Florida sampling dolphin conversations.
It was in Florida, he met his wife and in 1992, they moved with their first son to her homeland, Ireland, where he opened Mid-Atlantic-Digital Studio in Fermanagh County, which was voted 25th of a list of 50 fastest growing technical companies in Europe.
Robins worked with music director and composer for Hot Shot Films, Belfast; John T Davis who directed many classic Irish features and short films and director J. Wolfe of Pinewood Studios, London. He also worked with Jim Sheridan, director and writer for My Left Foot
and In the Name of the Father. Robins did post production and soundtrack composition for the award winning film, The Boxer. Voice overs and post production work for TV and films were a regular part of the work load at MAD, including films, Dust on the Bible, Uncle Jack and Route 66 from film-maker John Davis
and seven award winner, Goldfish Memory
with director, Elizabeth Gill. Robins helped create a six week TV series Blast Beat, which aired throughout Europe and the UK. Most of the music coming out of Ireland, during this period, came from Mid-Atlantic Digital. He mastered and produced for many international artists, such as now top sellers Rodrigo y Gabriela
, Sinéad O'Connor
, Damien Rice
, Mary Black, Mairtin O’Connor, Christy Moore, Daniel O’Donnell, Patricia Daly and The Saw Doctors
; worked on solo albums for every member of Riverdance
, Celtic Woman
I and II, and remasters for U2 and Van Morrison and others. The Vatican, Disney, DuPont, Coca Cola, Guinness
, Hummingbird Records, EMI Records, Sony Records, BMG Records, Universal Music, Warner Chapel, RCA, ABC, NBC, Opus Management, Ark Advertising, Go Danish Folk Music, and JMI are among his corporate clients. Between music and film, he has produced over 2000 releases worldwide. Of these, over 60 have gone gold or platinum and have won numerous awards.
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
In 2007, Robyn moved his family back to the US to broaden his sons’ outlook, choosing his home state Michigan. From his private studio, he continues with corporate clients working on various film and music projects. Many of his European clients continue to work with him, flying over to record new albums or by sending sound files over high speed lines for mastering. Recently, he worked with Scottish band Journeybox and remasters for Rodrigo y Gabriela. Aside from established artists and corporate clients, Robins shares his knowledge and inside view of this industry that has provided him a living from the time he was in his teens, by working with new and emerging artists. Grand Rapids band, Ensemble Al-Asdeka http://www.al-asdeka.com took advantage of Robin’s proximity and world music experience. He fully produced their new album, which was released in December 2007. He has completed mastering projects for Universal Music and Warner Chappell, tracks from associate Kid Rock’s recording studio. NUROKSOL, Hide from Cleo; Funkilinium and singers Danny D and Apostle Ron James are also current on his list.
Currently researching locations, he intends to open a full service production studio in Michigan continuing the work he started in Ireland as a liaison for EU and US artists and markets on both continents; and to take on film and TV projects.
Bob Seger
Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
Silver Bullet Band, and the owner of a successful production studio servicing the music and film industries in the US and throughout Europe.
Robins entered the Detroit Conservatory of Music for piano at the age of seven and studied there seven years. By the time he was 15, he was working as a session keyboardist for Punch Andrews and for Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
, Staxx Records and Hideout Records and various other independent pop labels. In a national music competition in Atlantic City, NJ, his band won third place playing one of Robin’s compositions. He toured with bands across the US, Canada and Europe, working with Sly and the Family Stone, The Platters, The Coasters and many others and accompanied Tiny Tim
Tiny Tim (musician)
Tiny Tim , , born in Manhattan, was an American singer and ukulele player. He was most famous for his rendition of "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" sung in a distinctive high falsetto/vibrato voice.-Rise to fame:Born to Lebanese parents in 1932, Khaury displayed musical talent at a very young age...
on an NBC special. In 1970 Robins replaced keyboardist, Tim Lambert, in the Stuart Avery Assemblage
Assemblage
An assemblage is an archaeological term meaning a group of different artifacts found in association with one another, that is, in the same context...
. With their new sound they soon had a hit single which reached #14 on the charts. Shortly after this success, the Assemblage split up and Robins joined Bob Seger with his new band, the Silver Bullet Band.
The Silver Bullet Band achieved their commercial breakthrough with 1976 album, Night Moves. Evocative and nostalgic, title song, "Night Moves (album)
Night Moves (album)
Night Moves is the ninth studio album by American rock singer Bob Seger, and his first with the Silver Bullet Band. It was released in October 1976...
” was critically praised and reached #4 as a hit single on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
pop charts. It became an album-oriented rock airplay mainstay. "Mainstreet", a #24 hit ballad, and AOR anthem "Rock and Roll Never Forgets" are also on this album. In 1978, Night Moves was followed up with album, Stranger in Town. The first single, "Still the Same" made the Top 5 on the pop singles chart. "Hollywood Nights" was an up-tempo Top 15 hit, while "We've Got Tonight" was a slow ballad that not only was a Top 15 hit on its own, but would become an adult contemporary favorite in years. The final single, 1979's "Old Time Rock & Roll", reached the Top 30, and achieved substantial AOR airplay. Due to its use in the 1983 film, Risky Business, it later became one of their most recognizable songs. Other tracks from Stranger in Town were equally strong, with "Feel Like a Number" being especially memorable for its raging powerless fury.
In 1980, Against the Wind was released and it became their first and only #1 album on the Billboard 200. First single "Fire Lake" featured Eagles Don Henley
Don Henley
Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...
, Timothy B. Schmit, and Frey on backing vocals and reached #6 on the singles chart, while the title song "Against the Wind" reached #5 as a single. "You'll Accomp'ny Me" became the third hit single from the record. Against the Wind won two Grammy Awards. Stranger in Town and Against the Wind were followed by the 1981 live album, Nine Tonight which encapsulated this three-album peak of their commercial career. Seger's take on Eugene Williams' "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" became a Top 5 hit from Nine Tonight and would go on to sell 4 million copies.
Night Moves was their first Top 10 album in the Billboard 200, and thirty years after its release, it had sold over 6 million copies in the U.S. Its long term commercial success activated sales of the band’s back catalog, so that Beautiful Loser would eventually sell 2 million and Live Bullet would sell 5 million copies in the U.S.
In 1980, Robins left the band and moved to Florida where he studied and worked as a studio musician, sound engineer and producer. After attending and Full Sail College and University of Central Florida in sound and film production and engineering, PhD in audio engineering, he eventually opened his own studio, Birdland Music Productions. He worked with the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
, Wally Stocker
Wally Stocker
Wally Stocker is an English rock guitarist, perhaps best known as the former lead guitarist with The Babys....
, Ronnie Wood and others. In 1992, he toured with The Commitments
The Commitments
The Commitments is a novel by Irish writer Roddy Doyle, and is the first episode in The Barrytown Trilogy. It is a tale about a group of unemployed young people in the north side of Dublin, Ireland, who start a soul band.-Plot summary:...
and is featured in the film documenting that tour. He collaborated with Stanford University on a metacognition project at the Florida Dolphin Institute in Marathon Florida sampling dolphin conversations.
It was in Florida, he met his wife and in 1992, they moved with their first son to her homeland, Ireland, where he opened Mid-Atlantic-Digital Studio in Fermanagh County, which was voted 25th of a list of 50 fastest growing technical companies in Europe.
Robins worked with music director and composer for Hot Shot Films, Belfast; John T Davis who directed many classic Irish features and short films and director J. Wolfe of Pinewood Studios, London. He also worked with Jim Sheridan, director and writer for My Left Foot
My Left Foot (film)
My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown is a 1989 drama film directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Daniel Day-Lewis. It tells the true story of Christy Brown, an Irishman born with cerebral palsy, who could control only his left foot. Christy Brown grew up in a poor, working class family, and...
and In the Name of the Father. Robins did post production and soundtrack composition for the award winning film, The Boxer. Voice overs and post production work for TV and films were a regular part of the work load at MAD, including films, Dust on the Bible, Uncle Jack and Route 66 from film-maker John Davis
Sir John Davis
Sir John Davis was an English accountant and film executive.-Early life:John Davis was born in the City of London in 1906 and educated at the City of London School.-Career:...
and seven award winner, Goldfish Memory
Goldfish Memory
Goldfish Memory is a feature film about everyday relationships, set and filmed in Dublin. It was written and directed by Elizabeth Gill.- Plot :...
with director, Elizabeth Gill. Robins helped create a six week TV series Blast Beat, which aired throughout Europe and the UK. Most of the music coming out of Ireland, during this period, came from Mid-Atlantic Digital. He mastered and produced for many international artists, such as now top sellers Rodrigo y Gabriela
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Rodrigo y Gabriela , also known as "El Rodri y La Gabi", are a Mexican musical duo who specialize in playing fast, rhythmic acoustic guitars...
, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Damien Rice
Damien Rice
Damien Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who plays guitar, piano, clarinet and percussion....
, Mary Black, Mairtin O’Connor, Christy Moore, Daniel O’Donnell, Patricia Daly and The Saw Doctors
The Saw Doctors
The Saw Doctors are an Irish rock band. Formed in 1986 in Tuam, County Galway, they have achieved eighteen Top 30 singles in Ireland, including three number ones. Their first number one, "I Useta Lover," topped the Irish charts for nine consecutive weeks in 1990, and still holds the record for the...
; worked on solo albums for every member of Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
, Celtic Woman
Celtic Woman
Celtic Woman is an all-female musical ensemble conceived and assembled by Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance...
I and II, and remasters for U2 and Van Morrison and others. The Vatican, Disney, DuPont, Coca Cola, Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
, Hummingbird Records, EMI Records, Sony Records, BMG Records, Universal Music, Warner Chapel, RCA, ABC, NBC, Opus Management, Ark Advertising, Go Danish Folk Music, and JMI are among his corporate clients. Between music and film, he has produced over 2000 releases worldwide. Of these, over 60 have gone gold or platinum and have won numerous awards.
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
In 2007, Robyn moved his family back to the US to broaden his sons’ outlook, choosing his home state Michigan. From his private studio, he continues with corporate clients working on various film and music projects. Many of his European clients continue to work with him, flying over to record new albums or by sending sound files over high speed lines for mastering. Recently, he worked with Scottish band Journeybox and remasters for Rodrigo y Gabriela. Aside from established artists and corporate clients, Robins shares his knowledge and inside view of this industry that has provided him a living from the time he was in his teens, by working with new and emerging artists. Grand Rapids band, Ensemble Al-Asdeka http://www.al-asdeka.com took advantage of Robin’s proximity and world music experience. He fully produced their new album, which was released in December 2007. He has completed mastering projects for Universal Music and Warner Chappell, tracks from associate Kid Rock’s recording studio. NUROKSOL, Hide from Cleo; Funkilinium and singers Danny D and Apostle Ron James are also current on his list.
Currently researching locations, he intends to open a full service production studio in Michigan continuing the work he started in Ireland as a liaison for EU and US artists and markets on both continents; and to take on film and TV projects.