Navy boxer to Italian film star: the strange and soulful life of Rocky Roberts
Rome, 1967: A looming figure moves through the historic streets of Italy’s capital with effortless grace. A sharp suit, a booming voice, and a noticeably American accent: this figure is unlike any other in Europe at the time. Behind that voice and those characteristically dark sunglasses stands Rocky Roberts. His recording of ‘Stasera mi butto’ (‘Tonight I’m jumping in’) is riding high in the charts, leading many to wonder how a young man from Tanner, Alabama, ended up an Italian pop-soul sensation.
For a young Black man growing up in Alabama during the 1940s and 1950s, opportunities were severely limited. Racist discrimination, prejudice, and segregation were commonplace throughout the United States, and southern states like Alabama harboured some of the nation’s most viciously racist attitudes – the Ku Klux Klan was becoming increasingly powerful, and public lynchings were not all that uncommon in certain areas of the state.
At the time, many young Black men saw the military as an escape from this oppressive home life. Perhaps that is why Charles ‘Rocky’ Roberts enlisted in the US Navy as a teenager. In the Navy, Roberts was stationed in Europe, where he became a welterweight boxing champion within the forces. However, a blow to the jaw during one boxing match left Roberts with damage to his eye and a lasting scar, causing him to adopt his trademark dark sunglasses and largely abandon the world of boxing. This led the seaman to spend his free time in local music clubs in Europe rather than in the ring.
It was Doug Fowlkes who introduced Roberts to the potential for musical expression. Fowlkes had a group called The Airdales during the early 1960s; the name derived from a slang term for US Navy pilots. On their first album, released in 1961, Roberts performed vocals on tracks like ‘Unchained Melody’ and ‘Beautiful Dreamer’. The following year, Roberts retired from his Navy career and permanently relocated to Europe.
In 1963, Roberts succeeded Fowlkes as the leader of the band now renamed The Airedales. Not only did his presence give the band a much-needed burst of energy, but his leadership saw the band move increasingly towards R&B and soul music rather than the rock-centric sounds of those earlier recordings. At the time, soul music was dominating the charts back in the United States, but mainland Europe was playing catch-up a little, and it took Rocky Roberts to show audiences the way forward.
Early records by the group found dedicated audiences among the youth of France and Italy, in particular. Young audiences at the time had never before heard music with such a compelling groove or exciting vocalist at its centre, and Roberts was the clear star of The Airedales. So much so that, by 1967, Roberts had gained such a strong reputation in Italy – where he relocated during the mid-1960s – that he decided to go solo, leaving The Airedales in the more than capable hands of Wess Johnson.
As a solo artist, Roberts was able to develop his style and persona much further, finding a colossal level of success in Italy. His defining track, ‘Stasera mi butto’, was released in 1967 and went on to become a major hit in the European country, reaching the top of the singles charts soon after its release. In fact, the song became so popular that it spawned a musicarello film of the same name.
In less than a decade, Roberts had gone from teenage Navyman to boxing champion to R&B singer to film star. That monumental rise to success certainly did not go unnoticed, and Roberts enjoyed an expansive career in music and film right up until his death in 2005.
Even after his death, Roberts found renewed global prominence when his recording of ‘Django’ was used by Quentin Tarantino as the theme for the film Django Unchained. His deep baritone vocals and effortlessly cool persona are ultimately timeless, and his extensive body of work will surely live on for years to come.
