Robin Zander

Robin Zander
Zander performing in Hallandale Beach, Florida, 2006
Background information
Born	(1953-01-23) January 23, 1953 (age 64) Beloit, Wisconsin United States
Genres	Rock, power pop, hard rock, southern rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1973–present
Associated acts	Cheap Trick

Robin Zander (born January 23, 1953) is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick.

Zander was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, and grew up in nearby Loves Park, Illinois. He learned to play guitar by the age of 12, and appearing in high school productions like “Annie Get Your Gun” helped him to develop his stage presence. His early bands included The Destinations, Butterscotch Sundae and The Hoods, covering songs by bands such as The Animals, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. In high school, Zander sang for three years in the Madrigals, the most demanding of the three choral groups at his school, played basketball and football, and had a part-time job at a sandwich shop.

In the early 1970s, Zander teamed up with Brian Beebe to form a duo called Zander and Kent. They secured a three-summer residency contract at the Picadilly Club in Wisconsin Dells, a contract which caused Zander to turn down an invitation in 1973 to join the earliest incarnation of Cheap Trick. The lead singer role was then offered to Randy Hogan, but he left in the fall of 1974, which neatly coincided with Zander’s Dells contract expiring in September of that year. Zander accepted the second invitation to join Cheap Trick, and the classic line-up of Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson and Bun E. Carlos was in place.

With Cheap Trick, Zander has toured the world, released numerous albums and has been widely acknowledged by his peers and fans alike as having one of the great voices in rock music. Guitarist Rick Nielsen introduces Zander at every Cheap Trick concert as being his "…favorite lead singer in the whole wide world."

Zander's vocal style has influenced many other rock singers from 1980s hard rockers such as Joe Elliott of Def Leppard, Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe, Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses, Bret Michaels of Poison, and Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, 1990's punk revivalists, Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, to alternative icons Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, and Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots.