Rob's Bio

Robert Carl Takac was born on September 30, 1964, in Buffalo, New York. He has one sister, named Trisha. Robby's started his career in music at age two when his grandmother gave him a ukelele. The Takacs lived in the city of Buffalo, but they moved to Orchard Park, NY, (a southern suburb) where Robby started school at Ellicott Road School. His family later moved to West Seneca (another Buffalo suburb), where he went to Ebenezer School, where his Irish-Catholic mother taught 6th grade. His Hungarian-Irish father was an artist-turned banker. In school, Robby played the trombone, and also pursued interests such as boy scouts and baseball. Robby went to a few other schools in the district, and graduated from West Seneca East in 1983. His uncle had given him a guitar, and he really got into it, playing lots of different kinds of music in lots of different groups.

After he finished high school, 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 as well, including delivering pizzas and telemarketing. Recently, he has done some producing for other bands. Around 1985, he met John Rzeznik through his cousin, who was in a band with him. Although Robby was into heavy metal and John was more into punk, they hit it off and vowed to achieve their goals of "making it." John, Robby, and Robby's school friend George Tutuska formed the Sex Maggots, and later changed their name to the Goo Goo Dolls. Robby plays the bass guitar.

In the Goos' early days, Robby was the lead singer. He sang lead vocals on all the songs from their first record, "Goo Goo Dolls." Gradually, he convinced John to sing and has stepped back from the spotlight. After their hit "Name," in 1995 (which John sang), all the songs the Goo Goo Dolls released were sung by John. Robby still writes and sings, though; four of the songs on their latest album "Dizzy Up the Girl" are his.