Born in New York City, Roberts moved to the Pacific Northwest as a child after his father died, settling with his mother in Tacoma.
While at Mason Junior High School he started listening to rhythm and blues music and buying records in Tacoma's black district.
At the Puyallup Fair in 1957 he stood up and began singing Little Richard songs unaccompanied, and was heard there by members of a local band, the Bluenotes.
Sidelined by the Bluenotes, Roberts left and, a few months later, joined rival local band The Wailers, whose instrumental "Tall Cool One" had also made the national charts.
[1][3] Early in the morning of December 22, 1967, aged 27, Robin Roberts was killed in a head-on automobile accident after leaving a party.