Rob Hotchkiss

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section needs to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (May 2008)

This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Rob Hotchkiss is best known as the founding member of the Grammy-winning ("Drops Of Jupiter," Best Rock Song, 2001) band, Train. He currently resides in the Pacific Northwest. He released a solo CD, "Midnight Ghost," in 2006. He was also the lead singer of Los Angeles-based Apostles, who released a self-titled CD in the 90's.

A graduate of UC Berkeley, Rob's musical dreams took him to Boston, New York, then Los Angeles - where he met Pat Monahan. Armed with a band-name (TRAIN) and a demo tape, Rob moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was later joined by Pat, where the duo began performing in coffee houses and "just about any place that would feed us free beer." Incorporating fellow APOSTLES guitarist Jimmy Stafford, the trio continued to garner attention, later being joined by fellow former-APOSTLE Charlie Colin, then Scott Underwood.

Having borrowed money from their respective parents, Train created their self-titled debut record in 1998, which was eventually picked up by Columbia Records, and promoted by the smaller Aware Records. By way of a relentless touring schedule, and radio success of first "Free," and then "Meet Virginia" and "I Am," the record eventually went platinum. The follow-up, "Drops Of Jupiter," debuted at #6 on Billboard's Top 40, and has sold over 3 million copies worldwide to date.

Rob left Train following the release of their third album, My Private Nation.