Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo celebrated his 60th birthday on February 2, 2026. DeLeo and singer Scott Weiland formed a band called Swing in the late 1980s. After Robert’s brother Dean joined the band on guitar, followed by drummer Eric Kretz, the group eventually changed its name to Stone Temple Pilots.
Robert DeLeo has always been STP’s creative musical force, writing or co-writing nearly all the band’s original tunes. Stone Temple Pilots quickly became one of the most popular rock groups of the grunge era, scoring many major hits on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay and Mainstream Rock charts.
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Unfortunately, Weiland’s struggles with substance abuse frequently stalled the group’s momentum. The frontman’s issues led STP to split up in 2003, although the band re-formed in 2008, and enjoyed some additional success for a while.
In 2013, Weiland again split from STP. Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington then joined the group for a couple of years. Sadly, Scott died in 2015 from an accidental overdose.
In 2016 and 2017, Robert toured with Hollywood Vampires, the supergroup led by Alice Cooper, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, and actor/musician Johnny Depp.
In 2017, Stone Temple Pilots welcomed a new lead singer, Jeff Gutt. The band has continued to tour and record new music since then.
Robert DeLeo released his debut solo album, Lessons Learned, in 2022. In 2025, he joined the latest lineup of The Joe Perry Project for a series of concerts in August and September.
Robert now reportedly is working on his second solo album, which is due out in 2026. STP also will be touring with Godsmack this year.
In honor of Robert’s milestone birthday, here are four great chart-topping songs he co-wrote for STP:
“Plush” (1992)
“Plush” was the second single from Stone Temple Pilots’ 1992 debut album, Core, and it turned out to be the band’s breakthrough track.
Thanks to Weiland’s gravelly vocals and the song’s heavy, STP were compared, sometimes unfavorably, to Pearl Jam. Still, “Plush” became a major rock hit, topping Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.
Robert wrote the music to the song, while Weiland and Kretz penned the lyrics. The dark tune includes the enigmatic line, “And I feel, and I feel / When the dogs begin to smell her / Will she smell alone?”
The video for “Plush” also helped STP garner an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist award.
In 1994, “Plush” won a Grammy Award in the Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal category. It’s Stone Temple Pilots’ only Grammy to date.
“Interstate Love Song” (1994)
“Interstate Love Song” was the second single from STP’s 1994 sophomore album, Purple. It became one of the band’s biggest and most enduring hits.
“Interstate Love Song” replaced the group’s previous single, “Vasoline,” at No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock tally, and spent 15 consecutive weeks atop the chart. It also reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart.
DeLeo wrote the music to the melodic rock tune, and Weiland penned the lyrics. Robert has said that the music was inspired by bossa nova. Scott explained that the song’s lyrics were about how he deceived his then-girlfriend about staying clean on the road when he phoned her while on tour.
“Big Bang Baby” (1996)
“Big Bang Baby” was the lead single from STP’s third album, Tiny Music… Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop. The song found the band embracing glam-rock influences, driven by an infectious bass groove by Robert.
Like “Interstate Love Song,” DeLeo and Weiland wrote the music and lyrics, respectively to “Big Bang Baby.”
In a 2021 interview with Songfacts, Robert recalled, “I had that riff roaming around in my head for a long time. It was one of those things where I was like, ‘Damn it. I’ve got to find a way to make a song out of that!’”
The tune topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart in May 1996, and peaked at No. 2 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay tally.
“Between the Lines” (2010)
After reuniting with Weiland in 2008, Stone Temple Pilots released a self-titled album in 2010.
Lead single “Between the Lines” featured a catchy melody and driving punk-rock energy. It was another song co-written by Robert and Scott. The track was STP’s firs tune to top Billboard’s Alternative Airplay and Hot Rock Songs chart. It also reached No. 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock tally.
The Stone Temple Pilots album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. It was the group’s final studio album to feature Weiland.
(Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)