Creativity, it’s been said, is about connecting different things to generate new ideas, and that’s probably why Rob Creek, the Executive Creative Director here at Envisionit, feels passionate about so many different things. There’s kayaking, working with leather, tinkering with old cameras and watches, and then there’s the big one: music. There’s an innate curiosity, but there’s also some simple math at play here in that the more things you dig into, the more ideas about those things you can play with.
“I’m a firm believer that the more new experiences and more things you do, the more dots you can connect creatively. It accelerates the creative process. It helps me learn to solve problems in new ways.”
When it comes to making connections, nothing lights up all corners of the brain like music. Science can explain this even if it can’t explain the whole hair thing that happened in the late 80s.
From Glam to Goo
Rob started playing in bands at 18 (cue Alice Cooper song here). A friend in Lincoln Square started him on bass and from their the path would eventually wend to frontman.
“I always thought I’d be a bass player, never thought I’d be a singer. But I took over for a singer once, and I never really stopped.” Rob went on to sing in Valentino, and eventually toured for 2 consecutive years, meeting Prince and Kim Bassinger (and her cat) in Paisley Park along the way.
But these days, shows are limited to Chicagoland. With his current band Gooroos, Rob is the lead singer, back-up guitar, and blues harmonica player when the feeling is right. Gooroos cover contemporary rock hits like Ed Sheeran, the Killers, Jason Mraz, and more, and they’re going to be at the Chicagoland Speedway on September 16th. Rob and company have a devoted following. “We call them gooroupies.”
Rob Unplugged
While he plays a wide range of crowd-pleasers for the masses and gets his spark from so many different interests, his deepest fulfillment comes from pleasing a crowd of one: his wife Stacey. “I have 135 songs that only she’s heard. She gives me the thumbs up or thumbs down—she’s like my best producer.”
Rock on, Rob.
Check out Gooroos at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday September 16.
