Robbie Hannan was born in Belfast and raised in the nearby town of Holywood Co. Down. He began to take an interest in Irish traditional music as a result of listening to his parents' record collection. After listening to the recordings of Paddy Maloney with the The Chieftains and Liam O'Flynn with Planxty he decided to take up the pipes in 1977.

The pipers who have most influenced him have been Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy and Tommy Reck and he has also adapted some of the repertoire of the Donegal fiddle playing tradition to the pipes. Robbie has made a number of recordings including a solo album and a duet recording with the Dublin fiddle player Paddy Glackin. He has taught the advanced piping class at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Co. Clare and at Scoil Acla in Co. Mayo for a number of years. He has played at concerts and festivals throughout Europe and, in recent years, has played at a number of festivals and concerts in the United States. In January 2003 he was a guest soloist with the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra at two concerts in Hong Kong City Hall.

He currently presents the radio programmes Fonn Ceoil on Raidió na Gaeltachta and Cúlán on BBC Radio Ulster.

Robbie studied Celtic languages and literature and Law at Queen's University, Belfast and is currently Curator of Musicology at The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.