Robin grew up in North Hollywoodwhere she and her older brother Steve began taking acoustic folk guitar lessons at Valley Arts Guitar. When Steve wanted to begin playing electric guitar, the Robins were referred to a North Hollywood music school owned by Delores Rhoads called Musonia School of Music. At Musonia, Robin took electric guitar lessons as the youngest and only female guitar student of Delores's son, Randy Rhoads. At the time, Rhoads was performing in a local L.A. band called Quiet riot. Robin would go to their shows with her family at the now defunct Starwood in West Hollywood and Palomino Club in North Hollywood. She has said that this exposure had a large influence on her desire to play guitar. Robin continued taking lessons from Rhoads until he joined Ozzy Osbourne's band as lead guitarist.
Precious Metal
Robin began performing professionally at the age of 16 in the mid-1980s playing guitar in the all-female hard rock band Precious Metal which she joined in February 1984. The band performed several local shows at venues such as FM Station, Club Lingerie, Whisky a Go Go and The Roxy gaining a strong LA following. This exposure brought Precious Metal to the attention of influential KROQradio disc jockeyRodney Bingenheimer who played their music on his local radio program. Russ Regan, head of Polygram Records, heard Precious Metal on KROQ and signed the band soon afterwards, releasing their debut record Right Here, Right Now in 1985 on Mercury Records. After leaving Polygram, the band was picked up by Capitol Records subsidiary label Chameleon who released their final two albums That Kind of Girl in 1988 and Precious Metal in 1990. While in Precious Metal, Robin wrote songs with members of Heart, Poison and Cheap Trick. For their cover of the Jean Knight song, "Mr. Big Stuff", Donald Trump originally made an appearance in the music video for the band's cover. However, Trump wanted a $250,000 payment instead of the agreed-upon $10,000 appearance fee. After the band refused to pay for his appearance, Trump was replaced in the final version of the music video.
After Chameleon Records went bankrupt and Precious Metal broke up in 1991, Robin started a duo with Precious Metal lead singer Leslie Knauer called Sugar Shack while also picking up session gigs. In 1992, she became a full-time member of Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham's band, touring extensively behind his solo album Out of the Cradle. Robin's first gig with Buckingham was a live performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno one week after she joined the band. Robin performed with Buckingham until 1994 touring as both a headline act and in support of Tina Turner. In addition to performing with Buckingham, Robin also appeared as a guitarist for several artists including Meredith Brooks, Michelle Shocked, Alice Peacock and Sarah Bettens. From 2008 to 2009 she was a touring member of Air Supply.
Solo career
After several years touring with Buckingham, Robin embarked on a solo career. Influenced by Ani DiFranco putting out records on her own label, Robin began recording and releasing albums on her own imprint, Little Sister Records. In 1998, she recorded and released her first album Open the Door which was produced by Mark Karan of Bob Weir & Rat Dog. After growing a strong local following in Los Angeles, Robin joined Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart for an acoustic performance which led to a write up in music industry trade publication Radio & Records and earned her industry attention. She continued to record and release her own material expanding her touring up the West Coast and eventually to the East Coast. In 2007, Robin began working with producers David Bianco and Steve Baughman on an EP entitled Days of Summer. Through Baughman she met Czech band November 2 on MySpace and travelled to the Czech Republic to tour with them. This led to subsequent European tours with Robin expanding her touring and fan base to Germany, France and the U.K. She has performed in Europe in support of several artists including Tommy Emmanuel, Midge Ure and Lenka Filipová. In 2009, Robin met up with producer John Carter Cash to record her album Everything Has Changed. Robin raised $16,000 in fan donations to record the album. Everything Has Changed was released in 2010 by German record label Hypertension Music who she was introduced to by Colin Hay. Robin released the album in the U.S. on Little Sister Records in 2012. In 2013, Robin released her first live recording, "Janet Robin & Band, Live in France," which featured a live show recording at a blues club in France with her French band. The cd was produced and mixed by famed French guitarist, Charlie Fabert. In 2016, Robin again raised fan donations and released her next CD also again with John Carter Cash as executive producer and Chuck Turner as Producer and Engineer at Cash Cabin in Nashville. In 2018 she released a digital single-an instrumental version of "Here Comes the Sun".
Film and TV composing
Robin has composed scores for the short films, "Traces," "War of Art," and "Use me Up." Robin contributed guitar to Michelle Shocked's score for the documentary "Bush's Brain." She has also had several original songs placed in TV shows such as "One Life to Live," "All My Children," "Felicity," "Oprah," and more. The short film "Traces" was directed by Joseph Culp, the son of actor Robert Culp and was premiered at The Hollywood Film Festival and The Palm Springs Film Festival. The short film "Use Me Up" was featured in the Best Shorts Competition, won the Award of Merit in the Women's category in the American Online Film Awards, was selected for the California International Shorts Festival, Festival of Pelagia, the Glendale International Film Festival, the California Women's Film Festival, and the Winter Film Awards, New York City.
The String Revolution
is a new side project started by Robin. It features 4 international guitar players playing mostly original instrumental pieces of all genres, creating a unique "full band" sound. Their first EP "Stringborn" was released in October 2016, mixed and mastered by Matt Hyde, with touring to follow. Their latest release "Red Drops" is set for full release in 2019.
