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Robby was born on September 30, 1964 in Buffalo, New York, where he grew up with
his one sister, Trisha. Robby's mother gave him a ukulele at the age of 2, and that is when his music career began. Robby
started school at Ellicott Road School, in Orchard Park, New York (a southern suburb) where his family had moved. They later
moved to West Seneca (another Buffalo suburb). Here, he went to Ebenezer School, where his Irish-Catholic mother taught 6th
grade. Robbys Hungarian-Irish father was an artist-turned baker. In school, Robby played the trombone and did other outside
school activities such as baseball and boy scouts. Robby went to a few other schools in the area before graduating from West
Seneca East in 1983. His uncle had given Robby a guitar and he had really gotten into playing it. He played in a bunch of
different groups, playing different kinds of music.
Robby went to Medaille College in Buffalo and got a degree in
communications. While he was there, he got several internships that led him to becoming a disc jockey. He had many other jobs
such as telemarketing and delivering pizzas. In 1985, Robby met Johnny Rzeznik through his cousin who play in a band with
Johnny. Even though Robby was really into heavy metal and Johnny was into punk, they hit it off and vowed to make it. Robby,
Johnny, and Robby's school friend, George Tutuska, formed the Sex Maggots in '86 but later changed the name to Goo Goo Dolls.
Robby plays the bass guitar.
Back in the Goos early days, Robby was the lead singer. He sang all of the songs on the
first record, and all but 2 songs on the second record. He gradually encouraged Johnny (who has always been very shy and very
insecure) to sing. Robby stepped back from the spotlight and let Johnny do most of the singing. After the hit single, Name
in 1995 (which Johnny sang), all the singles that the Goo Goo Dolls released were sung by Johnny. In the old days, the Goos
wrote all their songs together, but now they write separately. Robby still writes songs though, 4 of the 13 songs on the multi-platinum
record Dizzy Up The Girl are Robby's, 4 of the 12 songs on Gutterflower, and 2 songs on their new album, Let Love In.
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