Malcolm Roberts
Born: March 31, 1944 - Died: February 7, 2003
R.I.P.
Born in 1944 in Manchester, England, this powerful vocalist enjoyed most of his success outside the U.K. Malcolm Roberts studied interior design at a local art college, and went to music and drama classes in the evenings. After a spell with the National Youth Theatre as an actor, he appeared in several programs on U.K. television, including Coronation Street. In 1964, he understudied the part of Eric Dooley in Lionel Bart's West End musical Maggie May, and later took over the role. He also appeared in a Manchester revival of West Side Story, along with other diverse productions such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Julius Caesar (with Timothy Dalton). After a period out of show business, during which he worked as an ice cream salesman and a bouncer in a Soho strip club in London, Roberts was offered a contract with RCA Records. His first release, "Time Alone Will Tell" (the Italian ballad "Non Pensare Me"), entered the U.K. charts in 1967. He then relocated to the independent label Major-Minor and enjoyed a Top Ten hit with the Tobias Brothers' "May I Have the Next Dream with You"