Robert Martin, the son of two opera singers from Philadelphia, is a conservatory trained French horn player and a gifted athlete with a genius IQ. A classic overachiever, he taught himself to play piano and all the brass instruments in elementary school. He learned all the reed instruments shortly thereafter. In high school, aside from being a national honor society academic student, an undefeated wrestler, and an unusually gifted gymnast and baseball player, he was first chair horn in the Pennsylvania All-State Orchestra and Band and number one bass in the All-State Choir. He studied French horn for three years at the Temple University College of Music on a full scholarship. Then he auditioned for Mason Jones, principle horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra and was accepted into the prestigious Curtis Institute to study with Jones. At Curtis, he played week after week under the greatest conductors in the world. After three semesters, the lure of rock and roll drew him away from the classics and into the life of a touring musician, playing R&B, jazz, and rock, where he utilized all his versatility as a keyboard player, sax player and vocalist.

After a few years of recording and touring with the successful group Orleans, he auditioned for Frank Zappa and would perform on all of Frank's tours and live albums from that time on. In between tours with Zappa, he toured as Musical Director for Bette Midler, and toured or performed with Paul McCartney, Michael McDonald, Stevie Nicks, Boz Scaggs, Etta James (on tour with The Rolling Stones), and many others. In 1983, he recorded a solo album for MCA Records. He has recorded with Prince, the Moody Blues, Lyle Lovett, Gladys Knight, Glenn Frey, Bobby Caldwell, The Stylistics, The O'Jays, Sheila E, and a long list of other artists. For Wilson Pickett, Robert performed keyboards, horns, backing vocals, did all the arrangements and co-produced Pickett's 1987 Grammy nominated album. Since 1986, he has owned and operated his own studio and branched out into programming, producing, mixing, mastering and music for film and television, including composing for the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning television show Cybill, Baywatch, Martial Law, and Lifetime Television’s Intimate Portrait series. He has composed and engineered music for various national advertising campaigns including Mattel and Radio Shack. Somehow, he also managed to find the time to earn a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.