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 In
show business since the age of three, Roberta Linn was nominated for
Emmy Awards five years in a row....a record that few, if any, other
performers have ever equaled! Roberta won TV’s coveted Academy
Award, the “Emmy,” as the outstanding female performer of the year
when she starred coast-to-coast in her own television show, Roberta
Linn’s “CAFE CONTINENTAL”. Before she was even 17 years old, Roberta
appeared with numerous name bands as
featured vocalist, eventually leading to the coveted Lawrence Welk
Show on TV. Roberta was Welk’s original television Champagne Lady
who went on to make an outstanding name for herself in every field
of the entertainment industry.
After graduating from high school at 17, she ran into an agent named
Sam Lutz, who knew her work but couldn't take as a client because
she was too young. He told her that Lawrence Welk was looking
for a new Champagne Lady, and he suggested that she go over to the
Hollywood Palladium to audition. “But don’t tell him that you’re
just 17, for heaven’s sake,” he cautioned her.
Roberta and her mother made the long drive into Hollywood and that
night there were more girl singers in the ballroom than there were
dancing couples. “Lawrence was a big star in the Midwest,” Roberta
relates, “but the West Coast hadn’t discovered him at that time.”
They sat near the bandstand from 7:00 on, waiting for the auditions
to begin. By 12:30, the ballroom manager came over to Lawrence and
said, “Larry, if you audition one more girl, you can take your
accordion and go back to Yankton!”
Roberta’s mother wasn’t about to let Lawrence go anywhere! She
pushed her daughter forward and Roberta tapped him on the shoulder
and said, “Mr. Welk, if you don’t let me sing a song for you, my
mother will kill me!”
Lawrence looked at her and said, in his still accented voice, “What
did you say your name was?” She told him and he said, “Ro-perta
Linn, that’s a very nice name, kid. I sure hope you can sing.”
“Well, all the other girls had sung the songs I had planned,”
Roberta remembers, “but I sang Embraceable You for him and
then the gods really smiled down on me. He asked if I could sing
I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy and I told him I had just
learned it. He said, ‘Okay, there’s a four bar intro, you sing a
chorus, the band plays half a chorus, and I’ll show you how to get
out.’ So, I got in OK, I got out OK and the key was just perfect.
And he said, ‘You know, Ro-perta, you’re the new Champagne Lady!
Shortly after leaving the Welk Show, her first
engagement in Las Vegas was to co-star at the New Frontier Hotel
under the musical direction and arrangements by Nelson Riddle,
choreographed by Charlie O’Curran and gowns designed by Edith Head.
The performance received rave reviews. Variety deemed
“Roberta Linn, ‘The Best Friend a Song Ever Had’.” She then went on
to appear with Danny Thomas, mainstage at the world famed Copa Room
of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. While starring in “Café
Continental,” she also performed in the television program “FROSTY
FROLICS” which was broadcast coast-to-coast.
She has appeared in many major nightclubs
throughout the world, including five years at the Las Vegas Stardust
and Desert Inn Hotel. She starred in “Casino de Paris” at the Las
Vegas Dunes Hotel, the Empire Room of Chicago’s Palmer House, New
York’s Copacabana and Sheppard’s at the Drake, the famed Plaza Hotel
in Manhattan, as well as Miami’s Eden Roc, Hollywood’s Palladium,
the Mapes and Riverside in Reno, Las Vegas’s Caesar’s Palace,
Tokyo’s Latin Quarter, St. Louis Chase Hotel, Los Angeles’ Century
Plaza and Dayton’s Suttmillers. She has also appeared in major
hotels such as Fairmont Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, the Hiltons, Lowe’s
Hotel, Puerto Rico, Aruba and Cuoarcoa.
Roberta has performed in concerts at Sea World
Amphitheater with the San Diego Symphony, Magic Mountain and
Disneyland, world tours with Bob Hope, an Alaskan Tour with Clint
Eastwood, Chill Wills and Mala Powers. Oriental Tours that included
Bangkok, Manila, Jakarta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Okinawa and Tokyo.
Also a tour of Canada with “The Sound of Glen Miller” concert, and
an Australian Tour that included Sidney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Among her stage credits, Roberta co-starred with Ricardo Montalban
in a revival of “Can Can” to rave reviews playing the part of
Pistache. Her rendition of “I Love Paris” was so exceptional that
standing ovations were a regular occurrence.
Roberta has also donated untold hours to many
charitable organizations: The City of Hope, Heart Association, and
Arthritis Foundation just to name a few. She is presently involved
with a charitable organization that is in the process of
establishing a home for battered and homeless women and children in
the San Diego area.
Roberta’s many talents include recording artist,
singer, dancer, actress and EMCEE on stage, radio, screen and TV.
Roberta’s impressions of Lena Home, Barbara Streisand, Ethel Merman,
Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Billie Holliday and Dolly Parton are
outstanding, and just a few of the many stars she is so adept at
re-creating on stage. Throughout her career she has successfully
owned and operated nightclubs, featuring top performers. She has
performed and co-starred with such famous celebrities as Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Alan King, Sammy
Davis, Jr. and others too numerous to mention...at the Riverside
Hotel in Laughlin, Nevada along with concerts and personal
appearances. Roberta quips, "I captured the best years of
virtually every media during my career".
Her current show utilized the multi-talents of
Roberta ranging from the great songs of the ‘30’s through, up to,
and including the ‘90’s, Down Home Country Western. As always, her
beautiful ballads and many of her great concert hits, create a show
that appeals to all ages.
Currently a resident of Rancho Mirage,
California, Roberta was honored on the "Walk of Stars" and the city
of Palm Springs, California celebrates "Roberta Linn Day" yearly on
March 25th.
To be present at one of her performances is a
rare treat, for she generates love and excitement that electrifies
her audience, such as her special rendition of "Send in the Clowns",
which brings a tear to your eye and leaves you wanting more!
Variety Magazine termed her "The Best
Friend a Song Ever Had", but Bill Hagen of the San Diego Union
Tribune put his own spin on it by saying, "Truly, Roberta Linn is
the Best Friend an Audience Ever Had".
The most current shows that Roberta has done are
Milestones and Memories which is currently showing on public
TV. It was filmed in Branson Mo. at the Welk resort.
Recently, Roberta performed in The Fabulous Ladies Of Song,
with Florence Henderson. Betty Garret, and Gloria Loring which
appeared at performing art centers in eight different locations to
sold out audiences from Palm Springs, Orange County, Thousand Oaks,
San Diego, to Escondido, and others.
Roberta has written a book about her
life called "Not Now 'Lord', I've Got Too Much To Do", as well as an album entitled "All in the Family",
with songs like Lullaby of Broadway, Boulevard of Broken
Dreams, Dancing with Tears in Your Eyes, Forty-Second
Street, and several other great songs. The book is available by
mail-order or at
Barnes and Noble as well as Amazon.com. To order the book go to the
order page here.
Roberta is available for singing engagements and
public appearances. To contact her go to our
Contact Us page. There you can
send a customized message or a request for Roberta to contact you.
You may also call 760-200-0728.
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