Jackie's Groove

Rob’s drumming career started at the age of 7 years old when he started studying percussion at The Hochstein School of Music in his hometown of Rochester, NY under the instruction of famed Chuck Mangione drummer Vincent Ruggiero. From there, during his high school years Rob studied percussion at The Eastman School of Music, and music education at Nazareth College. Through all of these years, Rob participated in various concert bands and percussion ensembles.  Top grades for his abilities were the norm. While Rob is schooled in percussion, he is entirely self taught on the drumset. Rob’s influences include Peter Criss, John Bonham, Neil Peart, Tommy Aldridge, Steve Gadd, and Steve Smith among others.Prior to joining Lou Gramm’s band officially, Rob had performed a few drum duties for him. In 2004, Rob recorded drum tracks for several Foreigner songs to be used for promotional purposes. Shortly after he also filled in as practice drummer as needed when Lou’s brother Ben (his drummer at the time) wasn’t availabl