At 6 years old Robby was having a picnic with his family at a park when he saw an old man playing an Accordion. He said to his Mother, “I want to do that!”. She rented him an accordion and he began taking weekly lessons. It wasn’t long before he was performing at Accordion Festivals and Italian Festivals. At the age of eleven his friend taught him a few cords on his acoustic guitar. Robby was hooked. All he wanted was a guitar and he begged his parents for one… and that Christmas he received his first guitar. It was a bright and shiny red electric guitar from Sears. He taught himself to play and within a year old he was in his first band – The Raiders. By the time he turned fourteen his band was getting paid gigs at High School dances, Private Parties and Teen Dances throughout the SF Bay Area. When he turned sixteen he began teaching guitar lessons in San Jose, CA at the “American Academy of Music” to over 30 weekly students. Throughout High School and College he performed in Rock Bands, Blues Bands and Jazz Groups. Robby Z went on to get his BA degree in Music Theory from San Jose State University.
Over the years Robby Z has performed with hundreds of musicians and played countless gigs around the world. In 2000 he started R-Tist Records (an independent Record Company) and R-Tist Management Group (a Entertainment Management Company). He still performs around the world with various bands, but spends most of his time in the business end of music running R-Tist Records.
