Biography
Although Rockin' Robin Roberts released a total of just six songs, one brief exclamation from a single track proved sufficient to ignite countless garage bands throughout the mid-1960s. Born in New York City in 1940, he spent his youth in Tacoma, Washington, where he earned a reputation as an archetypal science nerd who never went anywhere without his slide rule. At the same time, Roberts possessed an electric stage presence and a powerful voice that quickly landed him a spot as lead singer with the local outfit Little Bill & the Bluenotes; when that group disbanded in 1959 he stepped in as vocalist for the Wailers.
In 1961 the Wailers cut an obscure, faux-Jamaican sea shanty written by Richard Berry titled “Louie, Louie,” a number Roberts is said to have discovered in a Tacoma dime-store record bin—though competing stories persist about how the tune first reached the Pacific Northwest, given that several area bands already included it in their repertoires. Issued on the band’s own Etiquette Records label under the billing Robin & the Wailers, the recording featured Roberts’ spontaneous cry of “let’s give it to ’em right now” halfway through, a line that transformed Berry’s sailor’s lament into a raw declaration of unruly energy and, ultimately, a rallying cry for garage rock.
Two years later, in 1963, fellow Northwest act the Kingsmen taped their own version, either intentionally or accidentally omitting a beat; vocalist Jack Ely retained Roberts’ shouted interjection—the sole phrase on the record that remained clearly audible. When that ragged, lurching rendition climbed to number two on the national charts, it spawned a wave of three-chord, ragged-edged garage bands. Roberts himself recorded only those six Wailers tracks—most of them preserved on the live album The Fabulous Wailers at the Castle—before stepping away to focus on his studies. He later obtained a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Oregon, moved to San Francisco in 1967, and died there in a car accident the same year. His lasting contribution, whether widely recognized or not, remains that handful of syllables—“let’s give it to ’em right now”—which distilled the essential spirit of rock & roll.
In 1961 the Wailers cut an obscure, faux-Jamaican sea shanty written by Richard Berry titled “Louie, Louie,” a number Roberts is said to have discovered in a Tacoma dime-store record bin—though competing stories persist about how the tune first reached the Pacific Northwest, given that several area bands already included it in their repertoires. Issued on the band’s own Etiquette Records label under the billing Robin & the Wailers, the recording featured Roberts’ spontaneous cry of “let’s give it to ’em right now” halfway through, a line that transformed Berry’s sailor’s lament into a raw declaration of unruly energy and, ultimately, a rallying cry for garage rock.
Two years later, in 1963, fellow Northwest act the Kingsmen taped their own version, either intentionally or accidentally omitting a beat; vocalist Jack Ely retained Roberts’ shouted interjection—the sole phrase on the record that remained clearly audible. When that ragged, lurching rendition climbed to number two on the national charts, it spawned a wave of three-chord, ragged-edged garage bands. Roberts himself recorded only those six Wailers tracks—most of them preserved on the live album The Fabulous Wailers at the Castle—before stepping away to focus on his studies. He later obtained a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Oregon, moved to San Francisco in 1967, and died there in a car accident the same year. His lasting contribution, whether widely recognized or not, remains that handful of syllables—“let’s give it to ’em right now”—which distilled the essential spirit of rock & roll.