Robin Habermehl
Music Director of the Ceremonial Band of the Waterloo Regional Police Service.

Robin was born in Kitchener and was raised in the Preston part of Cambridge. He studied clarinet and saxophone as a child and played in the Preston Legion Band, now the Cambridge Concert Band.  After graduating from Preston High School in 1973, Robin moved to Toronto to continue studying jazz and voice and played in numerous clubs with local dance bands. 

In 1980, after successfully auditioning as a direct entry musician for the Central Band of the Canadian Forces in Ottawa, Robin went to Cornwallis, Nova Scotia for basic training. He was awarded the Commandant’s Shield for Outstanding Recruit, and the Skill at Arms award for the top marksman in his course. In July of 1980 Robin was transferred to the Central Band as a corporal saxophone player and singer.

In 1981 Robin was promoted to the rank of sergeant, assumed the position of master of ceremonies, featured jazz tenor saxophonist and lead vocalist for the concert and show bands.

In 1988 Robin was promoted to the rank of Warrant Officer and became the leader of Free Flight, the Central Band’s premier show and dance ensemble.  During the fourteen years Robin was in the Central Band, he performed for dignitaries and heads of state from countries around the world including U.S. President George Bush, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Canadian Prime Ministers Trudeau, Mulroney and Chretien, and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

Robin has performed with artists such as Martha Reeve and Vandellas, Roch Voisin, David Foster, Red Skelton, and Shirley Eichardt.  In November 2000, Robin played the role of Pontius Pilate in Jesus Christ Superstar in the Kitchener Production at the Center in the Square.

Robin performs regularly in local rock and jazz ensembles as a sideman and leader and has performed in fourteen Ottawa International Jazz Festivals, the Montreal Jazz Festival and Waterloo Jazz Festival.

In 1994 Robin left the Canadian Forces and returned to Kitchener where he now teaches privately at his studio Robin Reid Music www.robinreidmusic.com

Robin assumed the duties of music director for the Ceremonial Band of the Waterloo Regional Police in September 2001.