Rocky Roberts

Rocky Roberts

Born: August 23, 1941
Died: January 14, 2005
in Miami, Florida, USA
Rocky Roberts (born Charles Roberts, Tanner, August 23, 1940 – Rome, 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.

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.

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 and won the Festivalbar. 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.

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

He died of lung cancer in Rome in 2005 at the age of 64.

Source: Article "Rocky Roberts" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Rocky Roberts...

Il ragazzo che sorride
Title: Il ragazzo che sorride
Character: Rocky
Released: March 7, 1969
Type: Movie
Giorgio, a young mining engineer, moved to work in Africa. His wife does not want to follow him and he suspects a betrayal. In the cast also Rocky Roberts singing two songs.
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The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield
Title: The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield
Released: April 18, 1968
Type: Movie
Jayne takes us on a review of her last world tour. She takes us through Rome, shares a fantasy about Roman athletes, and then is off to Cannes. She takes a trip to the nudist colony on the Isle of Levant, where she almost kind of joins in. Then it's off to Paris, where she gets a beauty treatment from Fernand Aubrey, and attends some racy dance revues. In New York and Los Angeles, she visits some topless clubs and listens to a topless all-girl pop band. The film wraps up with some posthumous footage of her family in mourning.
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Stasera mi butto
Title: Stasera mi butto
Character: Self
Released: November 3, 1967
Type: Movie
Summer Late sixties, Want to sing, Of Sun. Of golden skin from tanning. Of endless beaches. And relaxing baths. For everyone: young and old. Singles and couples. In the endless consumption of flirtation and new knowledge, the musical background goes crazy with the famous screamer. Famous personalities like Lola Falana emerge from famous people. They get confused. They are inserted between these alleged stars. But above all, they have fun like crazy ...
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Una ragazza tutta d'oro
Title: Una ragazza tutta d'oro
Character: himself
Released: August 17, 1967
Type: Movie
A girl with a beautiful voice lives in a little village and dreams of becoming a successful singer. She is discovered by the music maestro Signoretti who tries to have her take part in the music festival of Sanremo, Italy's most famous singing competition.
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I ragazzi di Bandiera Gialla
Title: I ragazzi di Bandiera Gialla
Released: June 15, 1967
Type: Movie
A group of beatnik students rent a garage and turn it into a club. One of them leaves because of love rivalry but then goes back on his steps and the club becomes a huge success.
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Title: Cinépanorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1956
Type: TV