Robert Tepper (born 30 May 1950) is an American songwriter, recording artist and singer, best known for his hit song "No Easy Way Out" from the ''

Rocky IV ''Rocky IV'' is a 1985 American sports drama film starring, written and directed by Sylvester Stallone. The film is the sequel to '' Rocky III'' (1982) and the fourth installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt You ...

'' motion picture

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

. He is also known for co-writing the hit song " Into the Night" with Benny Mardones.

Life and career

Tepper was born in

Bayonne, New Jersey Bayonne ( ) is a City (New Jersey), city in Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the Gateway Region on Bergen Neck, a peninsula between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York ...

on 30 May 1950. He paired up with fellow singer Benny Mardones, and together they wrote Mardones' hit ballad ''Into the Night''. Tepper then worked with Mardones on writing the latter's follow-up album '' Too Much to Lose'' in 1981. In 1985, Tepper signed with

Scotti Brothers Scotti Brothers Records (typically spelled Scotti Bros. Records) was a California-based record label founded by Tony Scotti, Tony and Ben Scotti in 1974. Their first success was releasing singles and albums from teen pop star Leif Garrett. They ...

and moved to Los Angeles. Actor/director

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Gardenzio "Sly" Stallone (; born July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. In a Sylvester Stallone filmography, film career spanning more than fifty years, Stallone has received List of awards and nominations received by Syl ...

was taken with Tepper's song "No Easy Way Out", which subsequently led to its inclusion in the

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

'' and to his song "Angel of the City" to be included in Stallone's 1986 film ''

Cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

''. "No Easy Way Out" climbed into the Top 40, reaching #22 on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1986, and momentarily putting Tepper in the public eye. Several European labels, including Ministry of Sound, released "No Easy Way Out" with their own dance versions, resulting in regular airplay on German radio stations that continues today (in particular evening dance and party programming in Munich featured on Charivari 95.5 and Radio Gong 96.3). The heavy metal group

Bullet For My Valentine Bullet for My Valentine, often abbreviated as BFMV, are a Welsh heavy metal band from Bridgend, formed in 1998. The band is currently composed of Matthew Tuck (vocals, rhythm guitar), Michael Paget (lead guitar), Jason Bowld (drums) and J ...

also recorded the song in 2008. Tepper released two solo albums for Scotti Bros. Records, but both albums received little promotion from the label. In 1986, one year after ''Rocky IV'', another song from Tepper's debut album (titled '' No Easy Way Out'') called "Angel Of The City" became the insert montage song of Stallone´s film ''

''. Also in 1986, he co-wrote the single "Le Bel Age" for

Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo (née Andrzejewski; formerly and still professionally Benatar ; born January 10, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, and 15 US ''Billboa ...

, which peaked at #54 on the Billboard charts. A second album, '' Modern Madness'' was released in 1988. He went on to join the classic hard rock group

Iron Butterfly Iron Butterfly was an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 1966. They are best known for the 1968 hit " In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", providing a dramatic sound that led the way towards the development of hard rock and heavy metal m ...

for a few years. His third solo album ''No Rest For The Wounded Heart'' was released exclusively in Europe in 1996 on the MTM Music label. In 2009, Sony/BMG re-released his first two albums digitally. In 2012, he released his fourth solo album titled ''New Life Story''. The music is a departure from the big rock sound of the 1980s and has been described as "acoustic, singer/songwriter with an electric tinge." In 2023, Robert and musician/business partner Chris Cameron started Red Eye Syndicate LLC, a music licensing company. Tepper lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and has five children.

Discography

Albums

* '' No Easy Way Out'' (Scotti Bros., 1985) ''Billboard'' 200 #144Robert Tepper Chart History , Billboard
/ref> * '' Modern Madness'' (Scotti Bros., 1988) * ''No Rest for the Wounded Heart'' (MTM Music, 1996) * ''New Life Story'' (2012) * ''Better Than the Rest'' (AOR Heaven, 2019) * ''Feels Like Monday'' (Heavy Breather, 2022)

Singles

References

External links

Robert Tepper Official Website

Red Eye Syndicate home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tepper, Robert 1950 births Living people Singer-songwriters from New Jersey Musicians from Bayonne, New Jersey Iron Butterfly members Scotti Brothers Records artists