Robin Rogers

Guitarist, singer, and harmonica ace Robin Rogers' life was full of hard knocks and sad turns, along with a few delightful coincidences, and she earned the right to sing the blues the tough, old-fashioned way, but sadly, she lived for only a short time after gaining her widest recognition as a solo artist. As a runaway teen in the late '60s she scratched out an existence however she could, sometimes sleeping in parks and abandoned cars as she bummed around the country to places like Richmond, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Coconut Grove, Florida. Eventually she was picked up by the authorities and placed in reform school. When she was released at the age of 15, she went back to her nomadic ways, and soon had developed serious addictions to drugs and alcohol. She also started singing, taught herself guitar, and began performing at house parties, on street corners, and in coffeehouses. In 1979 Rogers relocated to South Florida and recorded for the Sal Soul imprint, settling in Ft. Lauderdale for ten years and eventually kicking her addictions in 1989. A year later in 1990 she moved to North Carolina, where she met her husband, guitarist Tony Rogers. The two began performing as an acoustic blues duo with Rogers turning more and more attention to her harp playing. Producer and drummer Jim Brock heard the duo and recorded a debut album, 2001's Time for Myself, with them. Now working with a full band, which included her husband on guitar, Rogers signed with the 95 North label and released 2004's Crazy Cryin' Blues, which was again produced by Brock. She signed with Blind Pig Records in 2008. Her first album for the label, Treat Me Right, appeared later that year. Back in the Fire followed in 2010, debuting at number three on the Billboard blues album charts, but Rogers learned she had inoperable liver cancer just before the album was released. She died from the cancer on December 17, 2010 at the age of 55.