Although he does not have a glorious career, he is part of one of the most important and big bands of the 90s. Robert DeLeo was born on February 2, 1966, and yes, he is the brother of Dean DeLeo !!
(Photo: Jeff Berting)
= He and his brother were born and raised in New Jersey, his brother is 5 years older than him.
= Besides music Robert started surfing at the age of 9 and was also on the Point Pleasant Beach skateboarding team.
= Although he grew up in a beach town and his soul always tried to take him there he had to pursue his musical destiny and after graduating high school he moved to Los Angeles.
= Since he had no money or friends he lived in his car for a year trying to break into the Los Angeles music scene and form a band.
= In 1985, Robert met Scott Weiland in a Black Flag show. While talking about music and other things, fate wanted and they found out they are in a relationship with the same woman !! After the (lucky) girl left and moved to Texas, the two decided to take her apartment in San Diego, live together and try to form a band.
= They added drummer Eric Kretz and Robert embarked on a campaign to persuade his brother to join the band, although it was not easy, Dean finally agreed and joined the band.
= They gave her the name "Mighty Joe Young" inspired by the movie of the same name. They began appearing in bars throughout San Diego and the Hollywood area, eventually signing a record deal with Atlantic Records in 1992.
(Photo: John Eder)
= But they had to change their name because it was already taken by a blues musician. Scott is the one who brought the name "Stone Temple Pilots" just because of the "cool" acronyms taken from the oil company STP, the initial name was generally "Shirley Temple's Pussy", the band members said that there is no meaning at all it just matched the acronyms.
= At the beginning of the band's career Robert worked for "Schecter Guitar Research"ת which was a company that manufactures guitar parts. During his time there, Robert built his first bass guitar, which was a prototype and eventually became a Signature Guitar.
= In September 1992, the band released their debut album "Core". It was the band's breakthrough album, one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, with sales of over 8 million copies. Twice as much as the album "Dirt" by "Alice in Chains", which was released the same day. In light of the style and musical sound of the album the band automatically joined the grunge scene that conquered the world at the time.
= But despite this, the band received quite a bit of criticism and slander from critics who called it an impersonator or imitation as it was not part of Seattle's music roots. But this of course did not affect the listeners themselves who voted with their ears and raised the band to the top of the charts.
= In 1994 "STP" broke through the "Second Album Syndrome" when its second album "Purple" was also a huge success. The band did so while taking a risk, which involved a conscious decision not to repeat the winning recipe from the previous album. While changing and diversifying the musical material that this time included influences of psychedelic, progressive, folk, funk, southern rock, blues, and even jazz.
= Even during the recordings, Scott's condition began to deteriorate as drug and alcohol use increased significantly. Due to its poor performance, the band decided to take a break until the third album "Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop" was released in 1996. It is an album that was a turning point in the band's musical style as it abandons the grunge sound and explores other areas, one step ahead of what began on the previous album.
= The rift between Scott and the other members widened and reached its peak after the album's release, Scott's growing addiction, behavioral problems, and inability to function pushed the other three members to set up a side project in the meantime, hoping they could return to function as a band. Together with singer Dave Coutts from the band In Inch Man, they formed a new band called Talk Show and even released an album bearing the band's name in 1997.
(Photo: John Eden)
= Apparently time really heals the wounds because the four members managed to transcend themselves, resolve their differences and return to work together in early 1998. The reunion put positive energies in the band that the four members poured into the writing process, with all the songs written by all members together in the studio. The legendary producer who regularly worked with the band, Brendan O'Brien, pushed them to put their heart and soul into the album and in 1999 released their fourth album "No. 4"
= Two years later the band releases their fifth album "Shangri-La Dee Da". The album also produced by Brendan O'Brien, is the band's most experimental album, it cruises between genres of rock, psychedelia and even pop, with influences from The Doors, The Beatles, and even Bowie. It is very different from their previous album but resembles the album "Tiny Music".
= In light of the ongoing rift that only widened between Scott and the rest of the band, the band officially disbanded in 2002.
= In 2003 the DeLeo brothers reunite with other artists and this time together with the singer Richard Patrick from the band Filter and the drummer Ray Luzier from the band "Korn" who formed the band Army of Anyone. They released one album bearing the band's name in 2006, which did receive great reviews and love from fans of the parent band but did not yield significant sales or commercial success.
(Photo: Army of Anyone)
= In the same year, the DeLeo brothers produced the album "TruANT", the third album by the band Alien Ant Farm.
= In 2007 Robert collaborated with the Japanese rock band "B'z", he recorded with them two songs on the album "Action" and five songs on the album "New Love" which also featured guitarist Joe Perry
= In 2008 the band was invited to perform privately at a fundraising event, as history teaches us in these events, this "one-time" event reignited the spark of the four members and they went on a tour to celebrate the reunion.
= In 2010, 9 years after their fifth album, the band releases their sixth album bearing the band's name. This album was mostly influenced by the country style as well as the 60s rock style. The album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
(Photo: STPLegacy)
= After the release of the album and for three years the band suffered from extreme instability. Tough internal struggles and confrontations between the three band members and Scott began to intensify and take on different and weird forms. Scott was accused of preferring his solo career over the band, drug, and alcohol use was a regular theme in the fights and also his ability to perform on stage was a point of confrontation. In 2013 Scott was officially fired from the band, after some legal battles they managed to gain the rights of holding and performing under the band name.
= In May of that year, a veteran but not anonymous fan named Chester Bennington fulfilled his long-time dream as he took the stage with the idols of his youth, Stone Temple Pilots. A few months later Chester becomes the band's official singer and they release an EP with five songs called "High Rise", all songs were written by Chester, and "STP". But this love story does not last long and ends in 2015 in light of Chester's commitments to "Linkin Park".
= In February 2016, the band launched an online campaign to recruit a new lead singer for the band, they requested the audience to send a recorded demo and performed a number of auditions when the singer Jeff Gutt was finally selected.
= In 2018 the band released its seventh album which also bears its name, with its new singer Jeff, where the album marked the band's new beginning.
(Photo: Michelle Shiers)
= In 2020 the band released their eighth album "Perdida". This is not a typical "STP" album and you will not hear even one rough riff or a small power cord for medicine here. True, there is nothing different or innovative here, but there is still an album that manages to evoke in us longings for other and beautiful times, manages to elaborate on the capillaries of emotion, and reminds us how fun it is sometimes to suddenly press the brake, a magical pause, in the middle of all the hustle and bustle.
= Robert is a talented musician who has been a full partner in writing, arranging, and producing the band's albums and other bands.
Listen to the band's latest album "Perdida" on: Spotify, Apple Music