Robin Lane has a musical resume that spans coast-to-coast, as well as carries the unique distinction of leaping over the bridge of one decade-defining genre directly into another.
Establishing herself in the late ’60s as part of her native Los Angeles’s legendary Laurel Canyon scene, Lane launched her career as a folk-rock artist, notably collaborating with Neil Young on the song “Round and Round” from his second album, 1969’s Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. However, Lane’s direction changed with a cross-country move to the East Coast. She landed in Cambridge, Mass. and into a growing fascination with the burgeoning harder-sounding scenes such as punk and new wave.
By 1978, Lane had formed her group the Chartbusters with Asa Brebner, Leroy Radcliffe, Scott Baerenwald and Tim Jackson; in 1980 the band — already making waves on the Boston circuit —released their self-titled debut for Warner Bros., which featured the wistful, husky single “When Things Go Wrong.” The song became hit, as did its video, which was a fixture during the early days of landmark network MTV.
Two more albums followed with the Chartbusters before Lane made the decision to pursue solo work as well as start a family. Her independent catalog following the disbandment spanned through the mid-’90s, capped by a reunion with the Chartbusters in 2001 that resulted in 2003’s release Piece of Mind. A surge of re-interest in group’s earlier work was ignited with Chartbuster drummer Tim Jackson’s 2014 documentary When Things Go Wrong: Robin Lane’s Story, focusing on Lane’s life and career, a project that won best documentary at the 2015 New Jersey International Film Festival.
