Lynn Roberts

Lynn Roberts, born Leonore Theresa Raisig on January 9, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York, was an American big band singer and Broadway performer. She grew up in Queens, where her father, an accountant, supported her early interest in show business. She first performed on stage at age 8, and by age 15 had joined Charlie Spivak's band.

Her career as a vocalist took her through several prominent big bands. Roberts sang with the orchestras of Vincent Lopez, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and Benny Goodman. Her performances spanned notable venues including the Cafe Rouge and the Paramount Theatre in New York, as well as the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. She also spent 18 months as a featured singer on a television program with Sammy Kaye, toured with Doc Severinsen, and sang with the Pied Pipers over the course of many years. In 1961, she recorded the vocal for "Tom Tom Rock," released on the Kimbo Record Label, a track composed by McRae and produced by Kimbo Music Pub. Co. Her voice also appeared in advertising jingles for Pan Am, Chiquita Bananas, Campbell's Soup, and other brands.

Roberts made her Broadway appearance in 1978 as a cast member of the musical Ballroom, which ran from December 1978 through March 1979.

Following her Broadway credit, Roberts became the lead singer with the Harry James band, a position she held for four years until James's death in 1983. During that time she performed with the band at President Ronald Reagan's inaugural ball. She later recorded the album Harry, You Made Me Love You, a tribute to Harry James arranged and conducted by Angelo DiPippo.

In her later years, Roberts performed regularly with Bob Alberti's trio in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Her final album, Just Between Friends, was recorded with Alberti, whom she had first known through their shared time in Charlie Spivak's band.

In her personal life, Roberts married Daryl Campbell, the lead trumpet player in the Charlie Spivak orchestra, at age 19. The marriage lasted 17 years, and the couple had three children. She later married Lewis Hankins. Roberts died on January 21, 2017, at her home in Sun City Hilton Head, at the age of 82.