Robert Andrew Hyman (born April 24, 1950) is an American singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, keyboard and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

player, producer, and arranger, best known for being a founding member of the rock band

the Hooters The Hooters is an American rock music, rock band, which was founded in Philadelphia in 1980. They combine elements of rock, reggae, ska, and folk music. The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid-1980s du ...

Early life

Hyman started taking

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

lessons at the age of four and grew up playing in local bands in

Meriden, Connecticut Meriden ( ) is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located halfway between the regional cities of New Haven, Connecticut, New Haven and Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. The city is part of the South Central Connecticut Planni ...

, including The Trolls and the Pro-Teens. While attending the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

, Hyman met future bandmate and composing partner Eric Bazilian and producer Rick Chertoff. In the late 1960s, Hyman and Chertoff, along with local singer David Kagan formed a band called Wax, who recorded an album in the early 1970s. They also released two albums under the group name of Baby Grand in the mid 1970's with Chertoff as the producer.

The Hooters

Hyman and Eric Bazilian formed The Hooters in 1980. The band played its first show on July 4 of that year. They took the band's name from a nickname for the

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

, a type of keyboard harmonica. The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid-1980s due to heavy radio airplay and

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

rotation of several songs, including " All You Zombies", "Day by Day", " And We Danced" and "Where Do the Children Go". The band played at the

Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...

benefit concert in Philadelphia in 1985, at A Conspiracy of Hope, a benefit concert on behalf of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

, at

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and primarily hosted sporting events and ...

East Rutherford, New Jersey East Rutherford is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an inner suburb, inner-ring suburb of New York City, located west of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 Unit ...

, and at

The Wall Concert in Berlin ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

in 1990. In 1995, The Hooters went on hiatus, although Hyman and Bazilian would continue to collaborate on musical projects for other artists. Hyman reunited with The Hooters on headlining European summer tours in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Rob Hyman

On May 11, 2004, The Hooters were presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Philadelphia Music Awards.

Other musical projects

In 1983, Hyman and

Cyndi Lauper Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, ...

wrote and sang the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' number one hit " Time After Time," which earned him a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nomination for Song of the Year in 1985. Hyman has collaborated with

Dar Williams Dorothy Snowden "Dar" Williams (born April 19, 1967) is an American pop folk singer-songwriter from Mount Kisco, New York. Hendrik Hertzberg of ''The New Yorker'' has described Williams as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters." She ...

on ''The Beauty of the Rain'' and '' My Better Self'' (2002 and 2005), and with

Bette Midler Bette Midler ( ;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author. Throughout her five-decade career Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Bette Midler, numero ...

Recognition

On November 17, 2000, Hyman was inducted into the Philadelphia Walk of Fame on the Avenue of the Arts.

References

External links

Rob Hyman
official website *
Elmstreet Studios
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyman, Rob Living people 1950 births 20th-century American keyboardists American rock singers American rock pianists American male pianists Melodica players American male singer-songwriters The Hooters members Singers from Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania alumni 20th-century American Jews Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American accordionists 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American Jews