Co-founder of Asylum Records with David Geffen who he initially met when they worked in the William Morris mail room.
Worked as Neil Young's manager from 1967 until his death.
Managed Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Jackson Browne, America, the Eagles, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Yes, Morrissey, Devo, Tracy Chapman, Bad Religion, Spiritualized, Mazzy Star.
Roberts spoke to The Times a week before his death about a blockbuster report on long-suppressed devastation to as many as 500,000 master recordings destroyed by fire in 2008 that gutted a storage vault at Universal Studios Hollywood.
"It's a crime that [the original masters of] Billie Holiday or Buddy Holly or all those artists of the '40s and '50s are gone" Roberts was quoted.