About Robert G. Anstey

Robert G. Anstey was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on July 4, 1949. Music was a very big influence in the Anstey household as his father, Gordon, was very musical. He played the piano, organ, accordian and guitar and had bought an sold musical instruments for years. Robert was playing the family's big old pump organ at four years of age and really enjoyed the influence of music in the home. In later years he would briefly take accordian lessons with his older brother Richard but they soon gave it up.

The family moved from Winnipeg to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1963 and their lives changed greatly. It was a new and wonderful world to them with many new opportunities. Generally sports occupied Robert and his younger brother Bruce during those earlier years. Musically, it wasn't until The Beatles hit the North American shores in 1964 that Robert was mostly affected with music personally. While Richard had been drawn to jazz in the early 60's and remained pretty much rooted to that for most of his life, Robert found that rock 'n roll and pop music suited him better. He was first drawn to the drums and after picking out drum sticks and drum parts from the garbage of a drum store for awhile, he managed to get his own snare drum and cymbal and gradually built up his own drum set. With friends he began forming bands but none of the guys could play much in those days. For Christmas of 1965 he asked his parents for a guitar and received one. He then (with Bruce) painstakingly began learning chords and from there writing his first songs.

With Bruce and few friends they formed a band called The Scene in 1966 which evolved into The Toad by 1967 and then to Sandalspring by 1968. This band was to play at various clubs around Vancouver during 1969 and 1970 including La Place', The Big Mother and The Village Bistro. Robert wrote most of the original songs that the band used in those days and around this time he also began writing poetry. In the spring of 1970, unhappy with the music scene and his lifestyle in general, Robert quit the band and got a job. He still wrote songs and recorded them on his tape recorder but had little interest in pursuing a musical career. He continued writing poetry as well and published his first poetry book that year called Everything Was Fine Til The Puppy Died. Songwriting, music and poetry continued to be of interest to him over the next few years and he accumulated several more poetry books which were never published and subsequently disappeared through the years.

After working for a couple of years at a lighting fixture plant, Robert joined his parents and brothers in the family business operated out of their home. It was a wholesale craft supply business which eventually grew to large proportions by the early 90's, employing over 15 employees. During the early part of the 70's Robert continued to work on songwriting and poetry projects but by the late 70's with a growing family, he decided to forego his writing and songwriting. Married in 1974, he and his wife had four boys in a period of 3 1/2 years from 1977 to 1980 - Marty, Jamie and twins David and Daniel. Operating the business and deeply involved in a church group as well, there was little time for anything creative or artistic. It wasn't until 1992 that he resumed songwriting and poetry and in 1993 he published two poetry books - Letters Of A Criminal and Black Sheep.

In the early 90's he and his wife were divorced and he remarried in 1995. He and his new wife moved to a rural area of Vernon in the Okanagan region of British Columbia and there he worked on his writing, songwriting and music as well as operating a small publishing business. The business consisted of publishing his own books, publishing a small literary magazine called Teak Roundup, publishing books for other writers and poets, songwriting and recording his songs. Associated with a church group during those years, he performed many times for church services and gatherings, writing songs for specific subjects. He enjoyed the challenge of writing songs for various occasions and was often asked to write and perform songs for weddings, birthdays and anniversaries.

In late 1999 he and his wife moved to Sardis, a part of Chilliwack in the Fraser Valley, to be closer to both their families in the Vancouver area. There he continued with his work but soon sold the magazine and let the publishing for other people go in favour of concentrating on his own publishing, songwriting and writing. By this time Robert had also gained an interest in painting and began exploring the world of abstract art. Some of his paintings sold on Ebay and others were used for the covers of his books. His writing had now expanded well beyond poetry and now included biographical sketches, books on sports and music.