born in brooklyn, new york and raised in chicago, illinois, robert lamm's early musical influences were ray charles, the beatles, marvin gaye, burt bachrach. later on, it was thelonius monk, antonio carlos jobim, and mose alison. musically and philosophically, all shaped his musical objectives.

robert was an art major in high school, studying drawing and painting, but changed direction, enrolling at the music school at roosevelt university in chicago. it was here that the classical composers made an impression on him. although piano was his instrument, composition was his focus.

as a founding member of the legendary rock with horns band chicago, robert has lived the changes that have occurred in the band and the world of music. this rock band, which began as an experiment in 1967, has alternately broken new musical ground, set trends, fallen into critics’ disfavor, considered disbanding, rebounded and continued to be successful, ...