Robert Schwartzman

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Robert Coppola Schwartzman (born December 24, 1982) is the lead singer of the rock band Rooney. He has also acted in the short black and white film Lick the Star, The Virgin Suicides, both directed and co-written by his cousin Sofia Coppola. He has also acted in The Princess Diaries.

Schwartzman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actress Talia Shire (née Coppola) and the late producer Jack Schwartzman. Many other members of Schwartzman's family are involved in film; he is the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, cousin of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Roman Coppola and Christopher Coppola, and grandson of Italia Coppola (née Pennino) and Carmine Coppola (the source of his old stage name). His brother is Jason Schwartzman (also an actor and former drummer of the band Phantom Planet) and his half-brother is cinematographer John Schwartzman. Carmine is of Italian descent on his mother's side and Jewish descent on his father's.^[1]

Schwartzman attended Windward School in Los Angeles, California. Schwartzman formed his band Rooney in his junior year of school in 1999. He left the band temporarily when he attended Eugene Lang College in New York City in 2001. Schwartzman wrote songs in his dorm room and flew home every month to perform new material for Rooney in his first semester at college. Most of the songs on the first Rooney album were written while in college. It was during this time that he realized that he wanted to go back to Los Angeles and pursue a professional career in music with Rooney. Shortly after he left school, he was signed to Geffen/Interscope records in early 2002. Rooney recorded their first album in June of 2002. They also were selected by Schwartzman's friend, Johnny Ramone, for the Ramones tribute album entitled We're A Happy Family, which was released in early 2003. Rooney opened for Weezer in the summer of 2002, it was their first national support slot. The next tour the band landed was with the band The Strokes. Rooney's album was finally released in May of 2003 and has since sold approximately 500,000 copies. "Blueside" was the first single of the album and earned the band some alternative radio exposure and was also featured on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game. The band's cameo appearance in an episode of The O.C., "The Third Wheel" opened the band up to a new and larger audience. The second single "I'm Shakin'" became a US hit in 2004 and extended the life of their first album. On November 16, 2004 the band issued their first DVD, Spit & Sweat. The hour long documentary features interviews with the band and live performances from Los Angeles. The DVD also includes the videos for "Blueside," "I'm Shakin'," and "If It Were Up to Me".

Following their 2004 summer tour, the band began their sessions for a second album. Rooney recorded 2 albums, which they felt weren't true to their original Rock/Pop sound. Robert wrote over 150 songs and challenged himself to write a new and stronger album. The band continued to tour during this time, which further delayed the release. In 2006, Robert met producer John Fields and they instantly had a musical connection. Schwartzman played Fields the song "Believe In Me" and Fields was eager to record it right away. The session was a success and the record turned out as hoped. They continued to make a whole new album with Fields. Three songs from previous sessions ("Don't Come Around Again," "Paralyzed," and "Tell Me Soon"), were kept for their new album, Calling the World. On March 6, 2007, the single "When Did Your Heart Go Missing?" was released on their official MySpace Page. The album was released to stores July 17, 2007 and debuted at #42 on The Billboard Top 100 Albums chart.

"When Did Your Heart Go Missing?" was the first single off Calling The World. It became one of the biggest hits in Europe of 2007. The song reached #1 on the Germany Top 40 charts, #4 on the Italian charts, and it was top ten in Ireland, Denmark, Holland, and Sweden. Radio had such a big success with the song that the record label had trouble getting them to stop playing the song, so they could release the 2nd next single.

Schwartzman is currently on tour with Rooney and continues to promote Calling The World worldwide. He started a side project called SOLOBOB, which he created in his high school days. The SOLOBOB music is experimental and diverse. He hopes to release a full album in 2009, as well as a new Rooney album.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Actor

• The Princess Diaries as Michael Moscovitz
• The Virgin Suicides as Paul Baldino
• Lick the Star as Greg
• The OC as himself

[edit] Composer

• Rooney-Self Titled (released in 2003)
• Rooney-Calling The World (released in 2007)
• Ben Lee-Ripe ("Sex Without Love" 2007)

[edit] Musician

• Coconut Records (2006)
• Ben Lee-Ripe (2007)
• Graham Colton-Here Right Now (2008)

[edit] Producer

• The Clique Girlz (released in 2008)

[edit] Crew

• One Night Stand as a Production Assistant

[edit] Misc

• Rooney: Spit and Sweat as Himself
• A New Princess (The Making of the Princess Diaries) as Himself
• Solobob - Himself

[edit] See also

• Coppola family tree

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://www.rooney-band.com
• http://www.myspace.com/rooney

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