Robin Lane

Robin Lane drew early creative fuel from the folk-rock currents flowing through Los Angeles in the 1960s. That period led her to record with Crazy Horse and supply backing vocals for Neil Young before she resurfaced at the start of the 1980s fronting a new-wave group. A later return in the 1990s emphasized a lean, acoustic approach that echoed Young’s own style.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Lane grew up as the child of a songwriter and an actress. While still a teenager she began playing the city’s club circuit; an introduction to Crazy Horse placed her on Neil Young’s 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Throughout the 1970s she refined her songwriting first in Pennsylvania and later in Massachusetts. Near the close of the decade she assembled the Chartbusters alongside Leroy Radcliffe and Asa Brebner, the latter an alumnus of the Modern Lovers, and secured a contract with Warner Brothers. The resulting self-titled debut contained the single “When Things Go Wrong,” which reached the national charts in July 1980; it remained her sole entry on those charts, and the label ended the relationship after the 1981 release Imitation Life.

One further record, Heart Connection, appeared on Recon in 1984, after which Lane stepped back from the industry. In the late 1980s and through the following decade she placed songs with Susannah Hoffs and other artists while also opening shows for Warren Zevon, Taj Mahal, and John Hiatt. Her next project, the 1994 album Catbird Seat, was produced for the Ocean label by her husband, Ducky Carlisle.