Born in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, he attended Loyola High School and McGill University. Roberts formed the band William in 1993. The band’s name was changed to Northstar in 1996. Although the band gained some notice in independent rock circles, they couldn’t break through to a national audience, and broke up in the late 1990s. Roberts’ bandmate George Donoso went on to significant success in indie rock circles with The Dears, but Roberts struggled for several years afterward. In 2000 Roberts began his solo career by independently releasing his first studio album, Brother Down. The album was largely unsuccessful but the title track would later go on to be re-recorded and re-released on a six-song EP titled The Inhuman Condition. The EP sold slowly at first, but by the summer of 2002 Roberts was all over the Canadian airwaves: his first single “Brother Down” had become one of the biggest Canadian hits of the year, and the follow up single “Don’t Walk Away Eileen” quickly followed suit. Roberts then signed to Universal Music, releasing his full-length debut, We Were Born In A Flame, in 2003. That album’s singles, “Where Have All the Good People Gone?”, “Hard Road”, “Brother Down” and “Don’t Walk Away Eileen”, became major hits, especially in Canada. The band’s album Chemical City, produced with Joseph Donovan and released on April 11, 2006, got major radio play in Canada after its release, especially the single “The Gate”. The band’s latest release, the album Love at the End of the World (May 20, 2008), included the song “Them Kids”, which reached #1 on the Canadian indie chart (the R3-30), and also #1 on CFNY’s Thursday 30 chart. |
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