Rapid Transit Robbs Milwaukee’s Beatles

Dee Robb, vocalist for the Milwaukee-based group, the Robbs, has reportedly passed away of throat cancer. Born David Donaldson, he formed the Robbs with two of his brothers and a cousin, backing Del Shannon on some early recordings (and later playing on his “In Concert” album). An appearance on a Dick Clark-produced live show in Chicago got them the job as house band on his “Where The Action Is” TV show (replacing Paul Revere & the Raiders) and a contract with Mercury records. Though very popular in the Midwest (songs like “Race With The Wind”, “Rapid Transit” and “Movin'” are still heard in Milwaukee and Chicago), the group only managed to dent the “Bubbling Under” charts five times from 1966 to 1970, the last three on ABC and ABC’s Dunhill labels. A final effort after a name change to Cherokee landed them one more time on the Bubbling Under charts. It also inspired the name of the recording studio– Cherokee Studios– that the group opened in Hollywood in the mid-’70s. The small speaker shown in the video broadcasts audio to the flame. The flame is vibrated at an audio rate. The solar panels capture the vibrations of light and convert the signal back to audio. The music is broadcast out into the aether.