Pat Robitaille - Early Life

Early Life

Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, the 24 year old was raised on the musical energy that still thrives in bordering Motown Detroit, Michigan's music scene.

"I grew up with so much music. The good kind though; no stereos…there was live music in my house every night. My sisters were always singing, rehearsing and playing piano. My dad would get out the home camera and film our all-night fake concerts."

After years of singing James Taylor songs on a ‘Toys "R" Us’ plastic "Key-Tar", 10 year old Pat finally got a real acoustic guitar from a local music shop.

"I started playing guitar and writing songs right away. I remember watching MuchMusic as a kid and studying the guitar players’ hands. That's how I learned the chords; I knew them before I even played my first guitar."

At age 15 Pat was recording songs on a digital eight track machine in his bedroom. These records made their way out of his home and into the hands of music industry professionals around North America, and eventually into the hands of a critically acclaimed music producer in Los Angeles, California.

By age 16, with just months to go to graduate, Pat dropped out of high school to pursue music full time. Between heading to Los Angeles to record and meeting with record companies, Pat was playing nightly in Windsor and Detroit. After spiking interest in nearly every major U.S. label, Pat had a career changing revelation.

"I quickly realized that having a real music career in this day and age isn’t about who you know, or what someone else can do for you. Rather, a real music career is about artistic integrity. To live with myself I just had to retain control over my work product...so my only option was to pursue my career as an unsigned, independent artist."

"I did what I had to do. I bought a van and started touring North America on my own."

Playing in venues across the continent, Pat spent his time booking shows, writing and recording music and selling demo CDs out of his van.