Robin Black is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

commentator, former mixed martial artist, and glam rock musician.

History

Originally a member of the Pinawa, Manitoba band Ballroom Zombies, Robin Black moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 1998 to form Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rock Stars. The band released their first recording, a novelty

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

cut in the shape of a

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

, in 2000. The album ''Planet Fame'', produced by

Moe Berg Morris Berg (March 2, 1902 – May 29, 1972) was an American catcher and coach in Major League Baseball, who later served as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Although he played 15 seasons in the major leagues, ...

and Garth Richardson, followed on February 14, 2002. It was filled with glam rock tracks, led by the single "So Sick of You". A video for the single was also released. Prior to the release of their second album, the band brought in two new members; Chris "The Kidd" Avolos on drums and John "The Creep" Kerns on bass. The 2005 album was named ''Instant Classic'', and was produced by Bob Ezrin along with Garth Richardson. For this release the band's name was shortened to just Robin Black. They toured extensively for this release, including internationally. Frontman Robin also made an appearance on Showcase's TV series '' KinK.'' Black was also a judge on the 2006

Much Music Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31, ...

VJ Search ''VJ Search'' is the title of a reality television program aired on Canadian music video TV station MuchMusic. Focused on finding a new MuchMusic VJ to join the existing MuchMusic on-air personalities, the original search was a weekend-long on-a ...

''. He holds a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Robin also won his division at the 2008 NAGA World Championships. He now trains MMA at

Xtreme Couture Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts is an American mixed martial arts training organization headed by former UFC Champion and former co-founder of Team Quest, Randy Couture. Xtreme Couture was founded with the flagship gym in Las Vegas. Since the ...

in Toronto alongside other professional MMA fighters such as

Mark Hominick Mark Jeffrey Hominick (born July 22, 1982) is a Canadian retired mixed martial artist who competed in the Featherweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he was the inaugural Featherweight title challenger, the WEC, and Affli ...

Mark Bocek Mark Andrew Bocek ( cs, Boček; born October 24, 1981) is a Canadian retired mixed martial artist who competed in the Lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor for ten years from 2004 to 2014, Bocek has ...

, and Rob Di Censo and retired from professional MMA with a 4-5 record. Robin Black toured the UK again across July and August 2008 with support from German glam rock band The Pleasures and British based Patchwork Grace. This tour culminated in a headline show at Trash Stock festival, Nottingham.

Mixed martial arts

Robin Black is a practitioner of Tae Kwon Do and

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

. He was featured on a

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

program titled "Robin Black: Cage Fighter". On the program, Black trained with mixed martial artists Georges St-Pierre, Sam Stout,

, Dan Smith, Charlotte Savage, and Andrew Bradbury. Black was also a guest commentator at an XMMA show in Montreal featuring David Loiseau. This marked the first time that Robin did color commentary for fights. Robin has since been brought in to interview fighters between rounds at Warrior-1 MMA - Inception, WRECK MMA, CFC and others. In 2009, Black submitted opponent Stephane Poirier to become the first ever 135 pound Champion in Canada's ELITE 1 MMA promotion. After a near 2-year hiatus, Robin returned to the cage at the inaugural SLAMM: Tristar Fights event on November 30, 2012, submitting opponent Derek Charbonneau via Kimura armlock in the 2nd round, bringing his MMA record to 4-5 (W-L).

Members

Current

ROBIN BLACK *Robin Black - vocals *Peter Arvidsson - lead guitar, backing vocals *Chris "Starboy" Cunnane - guitar, backing vocals *Robby Ruckus (who also plays in

Darlings of Chelsea The Darlings of Chelsea are a Canadian punk rock band formed in 2008 in Toronto. The band toured Ireland in 2009 as part of Canadian Music Week. Biography The band's name is credited to Englishman Sean Robertson. The band thought it would be goo ...

) - bass *Aaron Verdonk - Drums (who also plays in

Stereos Stereos are a Canadian pop band from Edmonton, Alberta, formed in 2008. Their musical style fuses aspects of electronic music, rock, and pop. Their breakout came from appearing on the MuchMusic original series, '' disBAND''. In October 2009, ...

)

Former

Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rock Stars

(1998-2002) *Robin Black - lead vocals *Stacy Stray - lead guitar, backing vocals *Chris "Starboy" Cunnane - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals *jackie Duncan - bass (may-sept. 98) *Killer Ky Anto - bass (sept. 98-May 2002) *Kevin Taylor aka K-Tron - drums

Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rock Stars

(2002-2003) *Robin Black - lead vocals *Killer Ky Anto - lead guitar, backing vocals *Chris "Starboy" Cunnane - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals *B.B. McQueen - bass *Kevin Taylor - drums

Robin Black and the Intergalactic Rock Stars

(2003-2006) *Robin Black - lead vocals *Chris "Starboy" Cunnane - guitar, keyboards, backing vocals *John "The Creep" Kerns - bass *Chris "The Kid" Avolos - drums

Discography

Albums

* ''Planet:Fame'' (2002) * ''Instant Classic'' (2005)

Singles

* "Star Shaped Single" (2000) * "Two Song Tease" (2004) * "Hellraiser" (2003) (UK only release)

DVDs

* ''We Came, We Saw...We Came!'' (DVD, 2002)

Videos

Awards and recognition

* Lethwei World ** 2019 Analyst of the year *Spia Asia Awards ** 2019 Best Sport Tourism Destination Campaign of the Year - Bronze * Asian Academy Awards ** 2019 Best Sport Program - National Winner

Mixed martial arts record

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Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

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Winnipeg Convention Centre The RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg (formerly the Winnipeg Convention Centre) is a major meeting and convention centre located in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It has five levels including indoor parking for 729 vehicles, and three levels o ...

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

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, Canada , , - , Loss , align=center, 0-1 , Chris Myra , Submission (triangle choke) , Freedom Fight - Title Quest , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:15 , Gatineau, Quebec, Canada ,

References

External links

MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Robin Mixed martial arts broadcasters Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Canadian rock singers Canadian male singers Musicians from Toronto Living people Participants in Canadian reality television series Canadian male taekwondo practitioners Canadian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Canadian male mixed martial artists Year of birth missing (living people)