Roy Roberts (blues artist)
Encyclopedia
Roy Roberts is an American
blues
artist
, music producer, and singer-songwriter. Roy Roberts grew up in a small town in Livingston, Tennessee
, listening to blues and R&B on radio stations. At the age of 14 Roy worked on a nearby farm to earn the money for his first guitar, a mail order Sears Silvertone
.
. Roy was inspired to become a professional musician after he went to a nightclub where Jerry Butler
was performing. Roy worked hard honing his guitar skills while playing in bands until he landed a job with local Greensboro hero, Guitar Kimbers’ Untouchables. Before long, Roy began backing up major artists who came through town.
One major artist, Solomon Burke
, took Roy under his wing after letting him sit in as a bass player during a local gig. Roy soon became the guitarist behind the soul legend on tour. Roberts subsequently picked up touring gigs with Eddie Floyd
, “Little” Stevie Wonder
, Dee Clark
and Otis Redding
, while fronting his own band, The Roy Roberts Experience, on the regional club scene and Southeastern beach town circuit.
Roy began to cut records in the mid-sixties, staying mostly behind the scenes as a session man with Eddie Floyd, Dee Clark, Stevie Wonder, William Bell, Solomon Burke, and Otis Redding. The tragic death of Otis Redding inspired Roberts to step up to the microphone with a song dedicated to the late crooner. The record was released on Nina Simone
’s NinaAndy label. Roy followed this successful effort with a string of 45’s that carried him well into the seventies. During the disco
years, Roy turned his talents to country music
, touring with O.B. McClinton and releasing a number of country records. After a brief hiatus from the music scene, Roy built a recording studio in Virginia in 1989, where he produced records by regional gospel artists and cut a gospel record of his own.
In the early 1990s, Roy Roberts returned to Greensboro, NC and built Rock House Records recording studio. Besides recording his own material on Rock House, Roberts has produced albums for Priscilla Price, Lou Pride, Chick Willis, Skeeter Brandon, Floyd Miles, Eddie Floyd and many more. Roy has won numerous awards for his record production and his own music.
Scripture Cake, a movie written, directed, and produced by Dr. Emily D. Edwards, contains six songs by Roy. Four are original material, two are instrumentals only. He also sings a medley of gospel favorites.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, music producer, and singer-songwriter. Roy Roberts grew up in a small town in Livingston, Tennessee
Livingston, Tennessee
Livingston is a town in Overton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,498 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Overton County...
, listening to blues and R&B on radio stations. At the age of 14 Roy worked on a nearby farm to earn the money for his first guitar, a mail order Sears Silvertone
Silvertone (instruments)
Silvertone was the brand name used by Sears, Roebuck and Company for its line of sound equipment from 1915 to 1972. A hand-cranked phonograph was introduced under the Silvertone brand by Sears in 1915...
.
History
Roy Roberts left farm-life at age 18 to live with an uncle in Greensboro, North CarolinaGreensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
. Roy was inspired to become a professional musician after he went to a nightclub where Jerry Butler
Jerry Butler (singer)
Jerry Butler is an American soul singer and songwriter. He is also noted as being the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group, The Impressions, as well as a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.Butler is also an American politician...
was performing. Roy worked hard honing his guitar skills while playing in bands until he landed a job with local Greensboro hero, Guitar Kimbers’ Untouchables. Before long, Roy began backing up major artists who came through town.
One major artist, Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
, took Roy under his wing after letting him sit in as a bass player during a local gig. Roy soon became the guitarist behind the soul legend on tour. Roberts subsequently picked up touring gigs with Eddie Floyd
Eddie Floyd
Eddie Lee Floyd is an American soul/R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s and the song "Knock on Wood".-Biography:...
, “Little” Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Dee Clark
Dee Clark
Dee Clark was an African-American soul singer best known for a string of R&B and pop hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the ballad "Raindrops," which became a million-seller in the United States in 1961....
and Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, while fronting his own band, The Roy Roberts Experience, on the regional club scene and Southeastern beach town circuit.
Roy began to cut records in the mid-sixties, staying mostly behind the scenes as a session man with Eddie Floyd, Dee Clark, Stevie Wonder, William Bell, Solomon Burke, and Otis Redding. The tragic death of Otis Redding inspired Roberts to step up to the microphone with a song dedicated to the late crooner. The record was released on Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
’s NinaAndy label. Roy followed this successful effort with a string of 45’s that carried him well into the seventies. During the disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
years, Roy turned his talents to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, touring with O.B. McClinton and releasing a number of country records. After a brief hiatus from the music scene, Roy built a recording studio in Virginia in 1989, where he produced records by regional gospel artists and cut a gospel record of his own.
In the early 1990s, Roy Roberts returned to Greensboro, NC and built Rock House Records recording studio. Besides recording his own material on Rock House, Roberts has produced albums for Priscilla Price, Lou Pride, Chick Willis, Skeeter Brandon, Floyd Miles, Eddie Floyd and many more. Roy has won numerous awards for his record production and his own music.
Discography
- Introducing Roy Roberts - 1994
- A Woman Needs Love - 1995
- Roy Roberts Live - 1995
- Every Shade of Blue - 1997
- Deeper Shade of Blue - 1999
- Burnin’ Love - 2001
- Daylight with a Flashlight - 2003
- Partners and Friends - 2004
- By Request -The Best of Roy Roberts - 2005
- Sicily Moon - 2006
- Roy Roberts & Friends (Blues & Soul Review) - 2006
- Man with a Message (Gospel) - 2007
- It's Only You - (2008)
Scripture Cake, a movie written, directed, and produced by Dr. Emily D. Edwards, contains six songs by Roy. Four are original material, two are instrumentals only. He also sings a medley of gospel favorites.
Awards
- 2001
- Keeping the Blues Alive - Piedmont Blues Preservation Society
- 2002
- Cover of The Living Blues Magazine
- The Living Blues Producer of the Year
- Artist Most Deserving of Wider Recognition
- Best Blues Album Chick Willis From the Heart & Soul produced by Roy Roberts at his Rock House Records Studio
- 2003
- Franco Rubegni Award (For the spreading of soul music)
- 2004
- CBMA Blues Song of the Year for "I Slipped"
- 2006
- CBMA Pioneer Award and induction into the Hall of Fame
- Interstate highway sign dedicated to Roy by his hometown, Livingston, TN