Bob Roberts was born on April 27, 1879, in Cincinnati as Robert A. Roberts.
He became known to record buyers as Bob Roberts or Ragtime Bob Roberts. His father was Nicholas Roberts, proprietor of the Nick Roberts' Pantomime Company (he had emigrated from Germany). In his youth Bob traveled extensively with shows.
He apparently made his recording debut in 1902 with Columbia, cutting performances issued on early Columbia discs (seven-inch as well as ten-inch), black wax cylinders, and brown wax cylinders (the company continued to use brown wax for over a year after introducing its molded cylinders in February 1902).
He was most successful with comic numbers, especially "coon" songs. He covered for some companies material that Arthur Collins and Billy Murray covered for others. Though known for comic songs, he recorded a few plantation-type numbers such as "Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Victor 4458).
His first Edison records, made in late 1903, were issued in February 1904. One of the two cylinders is Edison Standard 8617, which features Roberts singing Theodore Morse's "The Woodchuck Song," which asks in its chorus, "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
Billy Murray recorded this for Victor on September 29, 1903--an example of Roberts and Murray cutting the same material for competing companies. They began recording within a year of each other. Roberts was first (with Columbia) though Murray had been making Edison cylinders for several months before Roberts worked for Edison. Edison executives probably viewed Roberts as an easy substitute for or alternative to Murray.
In March 1904, the Edison company issued Roberts singing Tom Lemonier's "I'm Just Barely Living That's All" (8644), which Roberts also recorded for Victor on January 11, 1904 (2623).
Roberts was most popular on records from 1903 to 1907, his work being issued on major disc and cylinder labels as well as small ones such as Aretino, Busy Bee, Indestructible, D & R, and U-S Everlasting. He recorded often for Victor, beginning on October 1, 1903, and also for its subsidiary record label, Zon-o-phone (he began in early 1904 with nine-inch records).
He cut "Woodman, Woodman, Spare That Tree" from the Follies of 1911 for Victor 16909. In 1912 Roberts cut the popular "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (Victor 17090).
His last Edison recording appears to be Blue Amberol 1632, issued in March 1913: "Fables," with music by J. Fred Helf and words by Jeff Branen. It was his sole Blue Amberol recording, and he made no Diamond Discs.
By 1913 he had stopped working for the three big companies--that is, Victor, Columbia, and Edison.
During the 1920s Roberts worked in radio. He was a member of the "Adolph and Otto" team, featured on WCKY in Cincinnati. Walsh reports in the May 1975 issue of Hobbies that Roberts operated a poolroom late in life.
His death was sudden.
He went to the radio station on January 21, 1930, but chest pains prevented him from performing. He hurried home to 3671 Vine Street and took medicine. A few minutes later his wife Katherine heard him fall over a chair. He died shortly thereafter of a heart attack.
sorry forgot to write down the source...
"Bob Roberts was born on April 27, 1879, in Cincin...
Alice Babs
Nobody's Sweetheart
"Nobody's Sweetheart" by "Alice Babs"
1939
The Ramblers
Could Be
"Could Be" by "The Ramblers"
1939
Carla van Renesse
Het Dorpje Van St Bernadette
"Het Dorpje Van St Bernadette" by "Carla van Renesse"
1960
Ivan Petroff
Lucovitski Mome Vo Struga Grada
"Lucovitski Mome Vo Struga Grada" by "Ivan Petroff"
1940s
Music behind DJ:
Christianne
Spring in the Air [Carolyn Miller]
"Spring in the Air [Carolyn Miller]" by "Christianne"
Kleines Präludium [Bach]
Kleines Präludium [Bach]
Bob Roberts
and the parrot said
"and the parrot said" by "Bob Roberts"
1911
Gretli & Ruedi Egger
Amor i Alperna
"Amor i Alperna" by "Gretli & Ruedi Egger"
1946
Edith Piaf
Le Chasseur De L'hôtel
"Le Chasseur De L'hôtel" by "Edith Piaf"
1944
Bessie Smith
Empty Bed Blues
"Empty Bed Blues" by "Bessie Smith"
1928
Eddy Christiani
Een Melodie Met Een Beetje Rhythme
"Een Melodie Met Een Beetje Rhythme" by "Eddy Chri...
1944
Eddy Christiani
Eddy Christiani
Music behind DJ:
Christianne
Spring in the Air [Carolyn Miller]
"Spring in the Air [Carolyn Miller]" by "Christianne"
Kleines Präludium [Bach]
Kleines Präludium [Bach]
Bob Roberts
And the world goes on
"And the world goes on" by "Bob Roberts"
1905
Lee Tully & Bernie Share Orchestra
Essen - Part II
"Essen - Part II" by "Lee Tully & Bernie Share Orc...
1947
Albert Whelan
The Barmaids Song
"The Barmaids Song" by "Albert Whelan"
1930
Rita Abadzi
Neos Konialis
"Neos Konialis" by "Rita Abadzi"
1930s
Peter Alexander
Das Ganze Haus Ist Schief
"Das Ganze Haus Ist Schief" by "Peter Alexander"
1958
Fred Duprez and Bob Roberts
Blitz and Blatz at the sea shore
"Blitz and Blatz at the sea shore" by "Fred Duprez...
1909
Music behind DJ:
Christianne
Spring in the Air [Carolyn Miller]
"Spring in the Air [Carolyn Miller]" by "Christianne"
Kleines Präludium [Bach]
Kleines Präludium [Bach]
OLD TIME RADIO"OLD TIME RADIO"
Various Artists
A Barrel Of Fun 1942-01-23
"A Barrel Of Fun 1942-01-23" by "Various Artists"
1942
Kirby Walker a.o.
Harlem Hospitality Club 1947 (14)
"Harlem Hospitality Club 1947 (14)" by "Kirby Walk...
1947
Dinah Shore
Way You Look Tonight
"Way You Look Tonight" by "Dinah Shore"
The Ragged Phonograph Program with Mike Haar Original ragtime, jazz, and pop music from the first quarter of the 20th century, with historical background on vaudeville-era artists
Merrilly We Roll Along A mish-mash of high energy lunacy, reverence, and irreverence for forgotten pop stars, love for Saturday morning cartoons and exploration of pre-rock novelties, classic and neo-Vaudeville, jug bands, polka, klezmer and much much more fun! with MHLee
Thomas Edison's Attic The audio curator at Edison National Historic Site rummages through the archives of the legendary Edison Laboratory of West Orange, New Jersey
The Old Codger: playing 78 RPM records like they're going out of style!
Ok, Jan, the source of your info on Bob Roberts seems to be from Tim Gracyk. He has a youtube channel with nearly 12,000 early recordings and has self published some books on American recordings 1895 - 1925 (currently a Kindle only edition available on Amazon). He has several Bob Roberts recordings on youtube and each one has the text you copied into the playlist here. Here is Gracyk's youtube for the parrot song: www.youtube.com...
I thought at first maybe Gracyk copied the text from some one's web page or book but I only found other people referencing Gracyk's work.
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www.youtube.com...
I thought at first maybe Gracyk copied the text from some one's web page or book but I only found other people referencing Gracyk's work.
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