| Biography | Born in Blackley, Manchester, Roberts began his career in the entertainment industry as an actor. He had a small role in the TV show Coronation Street. His work as Tony in West Side Story led to a role in the musical Maggie May at the Adelphi Theatre in 1964.
His first single, "Time Alone Will Tell" reached number 45 in May 1967, followed by his biggest hit, "May I Have the Next Dream With You" in November 1968, reaching number 8 and staying on the charts for 15 weeks. His final hit, in November 1969, was "Love is All" (Les Reed and Barry Mason), which reached number 12. According to the sleeve notes of his 2001 retrospective CD collection, his recording career continued in Brazil, where he scored many hits.
He also appeared on American television on 6 November 1970, via the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He had previously sung on both the The Morecambe and Wise Show (1969) and The Kenneth Williams Show on the UK's BBC Television. Roberts later appeared in pantomime, starring opposite Ronnie Corbett and Clodagh Rodgers in the 1971 production of Cinderella at the London Palladium. He represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 1985. The song, "Children, Kinder, Enfants" was written by Ralph Siegel, Bernd Meinunger and Jean-Michel Beriat, all of whom had written Eurovision entries before, with Seigel and Meinunger writing the 1982 German winner. The group consisted of an international line-up of the UK's Roberts and Ireen Sheer, Dutch singer Margo (Annemieke Verdoorn), Belgian Franck Olivier, German Chris Roberts and Canadian Diane Solomon. The song was performed mainly in French, with a counterpane sung in English and German. They got 37 points and finished in 13th place.
In 1991, Roberts attempted alone to represent the UK, with his own composition, "One Love", but finished last in the A Song For Europe contest.
Roberts died of a heart attack on 7 February 2003. He was buried at Remenham Cemetery near Henley-on-Thames on 20 February 2003. |