Barbara Robison

Barbara Jeane Moyer was born on October 14, 1945, in Las Vegas, Nevada. After losing both parents at a young age, she was raised by her grandparents in Lagunitas, California, a small town where she developed her vocal abilities singing in her school chorus and local church. Her range extended across folk, pop, and rock from an early age.

During her high school years, Robison gravitated toward the folk music scene and encountered figures including David Crosby and Dino Valenti. She also met Robbie Robison, who would become her husband and later a member of the band Clear Light. The two married in 1963, when she was 18, and relocated to Los Angeles, where they performed together as a duo. The following year, musician John Merrill approached her after a show at The Insomniac in Hermosa Beach and invited her to record with his group, which included bassist Jim Cherniss. Robison accepted, and in January 1965 she provided backing vocals on the folk-rock single "Love Her Everyday" b/w "Or Else You'll Cry," released under the name The Young Swingers. By April 1965, she had moved to lead vocals on the group's next single, "Wind's Up High" b/w "Let's Take Our Love."

The lineup expanded through 1965 with the additions of Alan Brackett and drummer Spencer Dryden, and the group renamed itself The Ashes. The band secured a regular engagement at the Waleback club in Santa Monica beginning in October 1965. Because Robison was only 20 at the time, she used a borrowed ID to enter the venue and performed under the alias Sandi Moon. The Ashes released two singles on the Vault Records label in early 1966, "Is There Anything I Can Do?" b/w "Every Little Prayer" and "Dark On You Now" b/w "Roses Gone," both featuring Robison on lead vocals, though neither gained traction beyond Los Angeles. The group disbanded in mid-1966 following Dryden's departure to join Jefferson Airplane and Robison's temporary exit to give birth to her son, Scott Robison.

Robison returned to performing in September 1966. She, Merrill, and Brackett recruited drummer Jim Voigt and guitarist Lance Fent, and by the end of 1966 the newly formed Peanut Butter Conspiracy was recording. The band signed to Columbia Records after auditioning for five labels, with Robison singing lead at each session. Managed by Gary Usher on their first two releases, the group produced three studio albums between 1967 and 1969: The Peanut Butter Conspiracy Is Spreading, The Great Conspiracy, and For Children of All Ages. The records were representative of the psychedelic rock genre but found their audience primarily in Los Angeles. Robison, along with Merrill and Brackett, remained the consistent core of the band through various lineup changes.

The Peanut Butter Conspiracy placed once on the Billboard Hot 100 with "It's A Happening Thing," a track from their 1967 debut album on which Robison shared harmony vocals. The single reached number 93 nationally, and the album itself peaked at number 196. Another track featuring Robison, "Too Many Do," was among the earliest songs to receive radio airplay despite exceeding the conventional three-minute length. Live, the band extended their material with guitar solos and leaned into a more experimental psychedelic sound, performing at venues including the Whisky a Go Go and the Fillmore Auditorium, where they opened for acts such as Big Brother and the Holding Company and Jefferson Airplane. The band broke up in 1970 without having expanded their following beyond Southern California.

Following the dissolution of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy, Robison contributed vocals to several film soundtracks. Her most prominent work in this period came on the soundtrack for the 1970 film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, on which she provided backing and lead vocals alongside Lynn Carey of Mama Lion on six tracks, including "Find It," "In The Long Run," "Sweet Talkin' Candyman," "Come with the Gentle People," and "Look Up at the Bottom." She also reunited with Merrill and Brackett to contribute to the 1971 film Jud, their first collaboration since the band's breakup.

During this same period, Robison joined the Los Angeles production of the musical Hair, which had reached Broadway in 1968. The show was noted for its profanity, nudity, and its portrayal of illegal drug use. Robison performed in lead roles for an 18-month run and continued participating in Hair sessions even after she and Merrill began performing as a duo in local clubs.

In September 1971, Robison, Merrill, and Brackett joined a covers band called Froggy, based at the Handlebar club in Pasadena, California. In early 1972, returning from a jam session, Robison was seriously injured in a car crash and remained unconscious for four days. She returned to performing with the band in under a month. By mid-1973 she had moved to Glendora, California and formed a touring band called Rush, which included keyboardist Ivan Jean and performed across California and Arizona. After Rush disbanded, Robison and Jean continued as a duo, touring clubs throughout the country for several years.

On April 6, 1988, while performing in Butte, Montana, Robison fell ill during a concert and was transported to a hospital in Billings, Montana. She died sixteen days later, on April 22, 1988, at the age of 42, from a bacterial infection that caused toxic shock. In 2014, Al Brackett released a self-produced tribute compilation titled Barbara, documenting her work between 1966 and 1970 with and without the Peanut Butter Conspiracy.