Singersongwriterobit: Robbin Thompson

Robbin Thompson, singer with Steel Mill (which also featured a young Bruce Springsteen), has died.

He'd been leading his own band, Mercy Flight, when Bruce approached him:

"One day, out of the blue, Bruce said, 'I'm thinking about adding another singer that can play a little guitar. Do you want to try out?'" Thompson told the Port Folio Weekly in 2008. "I went up to Jersey, spent a weekend, and the next thing I know I'm up there playing. I really never could figure out why they needed me in the band! That was the summer of 1970, and I was in it for close to a year."

He also composed the official popular state song of Virginia. This one:

Robbin Thompson was 66; he'd been struggling to continue his career while receiving treatment for cancer.