Rocky Roberts

Occupation(s)SingerYears active1960–2004Labels

Rocky Roberts (born Charles Roberts; August 23, 1940 – January 13, 2005) was an American-born Italian rhythm and blues singer.

Born in Alabama, Roberts served in the United States Navy and was a Navy champion boxer. He first got interested in singing after listening to a country-oriented musician named Doug Fowlkes, whose band the Airdales (US-navy slang for Navy pilots) used to perform on the ship where Roberts was stationed. Fowlkes, impressed by Roberts' voice, eventually agreed to let him sit in with the band.^[1]

Roberts won a singing competition while on shore leave in Juan-les-Pins, France, and chose to stay in Europe after retiring from the Navy in 1962.^[2][1]

Roberts had a stint in France performing at ORTF television show Les raisins verts, and achieved some success with an early version of "T-Bird" and "Monkiss".

In 1965 Renzo Arbore and Gianni Boncompagni invited Roberts to Rome to record the theme of their Radio Show, Bandiera Gialla. The song, "T-Bird", was a hit in the Italian charts and Roberts settled in Rome.

In 1967, Roberts had a major Italian hit, "Stasera Mi Butto", which sold 3.7 million copies^[1] and won the Festivalbar.^[3] The song's success led to a 1967 motion picture of the same title, starring Roberts. He appeared subsequently in several other Italian films.

He was known for always wearing dark sunglasses.^[2][1]

Roberts sang the Luis Bacalov-written theme song from the 1966 film, Django.^[4] Quentin Tarantino reused the recording as the opening theme for his 2012 film Django Unchained.^[5]

He died of lung cancer in Rome in 2005 at the age of 64.^[2]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1967	Non mi dire mai good-bye
1967	Stasera mi butto	Himself
1967	Una ragazza tutta d'oro	Himself
1968	I ragazzi di Bandiera Gialla	Himself
1969	Il ragazzo che sorride	Rocky	(final film role)

References

External links

• Rocky Roberts at IMDb.