Charles David Robbins was born in Atlanta, GA. Growing up, he listened to such groups as Foreigner, Def Leppard, and The Allmen Bros. When he was six, Dave started his musical carreer at a piano recital.

"The first I probably really heard [of country music] that caught my ear and really got me here in my heart was hearing people like Glen Cambell singing 'Rhinestone Cowboy' and 'Wichita Lineman'. They had a very pop appeal to them. They had the strings, they had all the pretty arangements. Kenny Rogers, Alabama, Ronnie Milsap -- those are the people who caught my ear. When I started writing songs, the kind of songs that we wrote together were songs that people like Restless Heart took and made them what they were.

Dave married his wife Mary Lynn in 1979. In 1981 he started writing songs with Van Stephenson. Dave's first big break came in 1983 when Kenny Rogers recorded his songs 'Bad Enough' and 'All My Life'. In 1985 his son David was born, and in 1989 his second son Trey was born. Dave wrote songs with Van that got recorded by artists like Restless Heart, Reba McEntire, and Eric Clapton, among others. In fact, the band Restless Heart got their name from a song Dave and Van wrote called 'Restless Heart.'

BlackHawk went on the road in 1994. That same year Dave's oldest son David was in a car accident that left him seriously injured. When it came time to do the 'Big Guitar' video in 1996, they all brought their sons in to play the garage-type band. "It was great having my kids in the video. It's my greatest pleasure to see him [David] now fully recovered....Trey had a great time doing it too."

"...We were playing a fair in Michigan ... we were playing this outdoor festival, and I'm watching the audiance. I see these four young teenage boys come up through the audiance with bandanas, earrings, Metallica T-shirts, and I just think 'Oh, boy, here we go.' They're walking through, and they get up to the front, they sit there and watch the show. And I don't know what to make of it.

"So we get to the audiance line. These guys are in line, and they come through, and they're like, 'Hey, man, what's happening? We heard "Goodbye Says it All" on the radio. You guys kick butt! We bought your album. We love you guys.'

"And I'm going, 'Wow, man, this is really cool.' But they like the music. It's good music. And it starts with good songs."

Partial list of songs co-written by Dave Robbins

Recorded by Kenny Rogers

'Bad Enough'

'All My Life'

Recorded by Restless Heart

'Let the Heartache Ride' (with Van Stephenson and Tim DuBois)

'Restless Heart' (with Van and Tim)

'Till I Loved You' (with Van and Jeff Silbar)

'Jenny Came Back' (with Van and Tim)

'Calm Before the Storm' (with Van and Bob Farrell)

'Sweet Auburn' (with Steve Bogard)

'Long Lost Friend' (with Steve and Larry Stewart)

Recorded by BlackHawk

'Every Once in a While' (with Henry Paul and Van Stephenson)

'One More Heartache' (with Henry and Van)

'Stone by Stone' (with Henry and Van)

'Almost a Memory Now' (with Van and Dale Oliver)

'Bad Love Gone Good' (with Henry and Van)

'A Kiss is Worth a Thousand Words' (with Henry and Van)

(Concert photo by Betsy Howe)

Origianal material �1998 by Mary Melton

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