Biography

In the post-punk world of London in the 80s Rio Roberts made a considerable impact singing and playing flute with pop bands ‘The Academy’ and ‘The Exotic Pets’ before going on to form her own band, the hybrid, ‘Rio & The Robots’. A cult band on the scene and very much imitated and plagiarised they were the first band of choice on the then thriving University and Club circuits. The band recorded for Arista and Stiff Records and released several singles on their own label, Tuff Records.

They recorded an album in New York which has now become a much sought after cult record because of the title track - ‘People In Plastic’ and the prophetic ‘Children of the Space Age’. Rio and the Robots inevitably fell victim to the inexorable slide towards the manufacturing of bands and the rise to power of the ‘managers now more famous than their bands’ syndrome, and the band split up.

Rio went solo, continuing to record and write songs for Tuff Records.

Rio presented her own music programme "With Rio until Midnight" on the ground-breaking all-female radio station, Brazen Radio, as well as writing and performing all the station idents and jingles.

With Rio Until Midnight was a unique programme in that Rio played her favourite pop tracks then did a series of interviews with budding classical singers addressing differences (and similarities!) between pursuing a career in classical and pop music. The show gradually turned into a party (playing tracks by Shabba Ranks, Toots and the Maytalls, Black Uhuru, Sly + Robbie, and Donald Fagen), finally mellowing into the midnight hour by playing cool jazz – Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Anita O’Day, Chet Baker, etc.

Playing the records of these jazz artistes opened a new world to Rio and she started to listen to more jazz and began reading books about the jazz world and the musicians who inhabited it, most notably Gene Lees’ “Meet Me At Jim and Andy’s”. It was inevitable that, with the pop business now aiming for the Under-Tens and Rio maturing as an artiste, the musical freedom and integrity of Jazz would entice her. She began to listen more and more to this seductive music, buying old vinyl from market stalls, car boot sales and specialist jazz shops.

Rio took a Sabbatical from the constant struggle to gain recognition for her music and decided to write a book about the music business – “Fine Times”. It took a year to write and led to her second book “Lancashire Tales” – a historical fantasy about Lancashire (both books as yet unpublished).

In a chance meeting in a book shop, she met jazz pianist, Ron Rubin, who had just come off the road with the George Melly band. They worked together for a year in a residency at London’s White House hotel, playing jazz. Ron was also a fabulous jazz double bass player, who specialised in bluesy arrangements and re-harmonising of jazz standards and he passed his extensive knowledge of harmony, phrasing and improvisation on to the, eager to learn, Rio.

He taught her the etiquette of jazz and advised her to concentrate on what he considered her strongest asset – her innate sense of time and rhythm.

One New Year’s Eve, Rio found herself in a houseband which included the great jazz pianist, Tony Lee. They struck up a friendship, both musical and personal, which lead to Tony introducing her to the best musicians in British Jazz like Tony Archer (bass), Ronnie Verrell (drums), Terry Smith (guitars), Mark Bassey ( t-bone), Bobby Wellins (sax) , Derek Nash (sax) Mick Hutton (bass), Andy Clyndert (bass) and Colin Oxley (guitar), in fact a cast of thousands. Singing with these musicians in the various jazz clubs and bars, she gradually developed into a jazz singer with an original style and flair. Her first recordings, ‘The Etiquette of Jazz’, and ‘Rio Roberts – Unplugged’ were featured by pianist, Mike Kemp, on his Midlands Radio jazz show and the Shaun O’ Connor Show on BBC Birmingham.

Tracks from her latest cd, Shades of Jazz have been played on Jazz FM and Radio 2. The featured musicians on this cd are Tony Lee on piano, Tony Archer on double bass and the late, great, Ronnie Verrell, on drums - dubbed by Jazz FM’s Campbell Burnap, as ‘a rhythm section to die for’.

Rio is currently at the mixing stage of a new cd which includes two big band tracks and several of her own compositions.

Rio now plays at the most prestigious gigs in London ie. 606 Club, Oxo Tower, Mezzos, National Theatre, the Orangery Summer Jazz Festival, Soho Jazz Festival, the infamous jazz haunt ‘The Bulls Head’ at Barnes with her Quintet. The Rio Roberts Quartet has been the featured band for the last three years at the BBC Gardeners World Show in Birmingham, with attendant television and radio appearances. This show presents jazz in a setting not unlike the film “Jazz on a Summers Day”. The week-long show attracts attendances of up to 500,000 visitors of all ages and nationalities who find themselves enjoying the jazz just as much as the appearances by Alan Titchmarsh, Charlie Dimmock and Tommy Walsh.

Rio played at The Green, a new South London Restaurant & Bar which featured jazz two nights a week – Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Green aims to become THE place for Jazz in South East London.