Staff Photo by Jenna Walker/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Jared Roberts, left, Jordan Roberts, and Justin Roberts are 11-year-old triplets who play music together and are music theater majors at the Center for Creative Arts in Chattanooga. Jared plays the guitar, Jordan plays the drums and Justin plays the bass.If The Beatles were the Fab Four of the 1960s, Justin, Jared and Jordan Roberts are aiming to be the Terrific Three of today.
For a year, the 12-year-old triplets have been honing their musical talent to raise their skills as a family band. Although they grew up listening to their parents play music by artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss and Led Zeppelin, the brothers are emphatic about where their musical loyalty lies.
“All three of us are atomic Beatles fans,” Jared said. “We love The Beatles.”
Last fall, the Roberts brothers entered the sixth-grade at Center for Creative Arts, where Jared and Justin are musical-theater majors and Jordan is a percussionist in the beginning band.
The Robertses first thought about attending CCA in early 2010, just a couple of months before auditions for the fall semester started.
Maria and Darren Roberts said their sons’ passion for music arrived suddenly, given that they had already been accepted at Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts and were almost entirely untrained.
“They just came home one day and said they wanted to audition for this school, and we said, ‘Well, what are you going to do?'” Maria Roberts said, laughing.
At the time, Jared, Justin and Jordan had only recently taken up guitar, bass and drum lessons, respectively, but they said their parents planted the seeds of their enthusiasm long ago.
ABOUT THEM* Name: Jared, Justin and Jordan Roberts.* Age: 12.* School: Sixth grade at Center for Creative Arts.* Favorite subject: Science (Jared and Jordan), world history (Justin).* Favorite songs: Jared, “Let It Be” by The Beatles; Justin, “Help!” by The Beatles; Jordan, “I Am the Walrus” by The Beatles.CLAIM TO FAMEJared, Justin and Jordan Roberts sang during the weekends last summer as part of the Rock & Roll Spectacular in the Chattanooga Choo Choo’s Centennial Theatre. The three are also third-level, third-degree black belts in tae kwan do and serve as junior instructors at Greg Roy’s Taekwondo Plus on Lee Highway.
“Dad got us into listening to some great bands like Duran Duran, Paul McCartney and Wings, The Beatles, Kiss, stuff like that,” Dustin said. “We really like that music, and we had a passion for it.”
After a few vocal lessons, the Roberts triplets passed their audition singing rock ballads such as Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” and The Beatles’ “Let It Be” and “Hey Jude.”
Months after the school audition, Jared, Justin and Jordan auditioned and were accepted to perform for weekend shows as singers in Rock & Roll Spectacular in the Chattanooga Choo Choo’s Centennial Theatre.
They’re working on building their repertoire with their eye on pop standards like the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” and, of course, more Beatles songs. Later this year, they said, they will don the black and white face paint and costumes of Kiss to perform “Rock and Roll All Nite” for the CCA Idol talent show.
The triplets said playing music has been like continuing a family tradition.
Their great uncle is singer/songwriter Dalton Roberts, who has performed at the Grand Ole Opry. In the 1980s and 1990s, their father toured as a guitarist for Dorian Gray, a Chattanooga-based rock band that played gigs throughout the Southeast.
“It’s like following in our dad’s footsteps because he told us how many great times he had,” Jordan said. “He told us a bunch of stories about being on the road, [and] it sounded awesome.”
Roberts gave up music in 1997 and is now a financial adviser. He said it has been rewarding watching his sons experience the same longing for the stage he felt when he took up guitar in his teens.
Even knowing the potential pitfalls of being a musician, Roberts said it would have been futile to try to stifle his sons’ interests.
“It was a matter of time, and there was nothing I was going to do to stop it,” he said. “Ever since they were 2 or 3 years old, I knew they would.”
And as his sons hone their talents with their eye on building a name for their band – Check 1, 2, 3 – Roberts said he is able to help them in ways his own father never could.
“I’m teaching them to be a band,” he said. “I’m like the band coach.
“I go downstairs and jam with them. It’s fun. We have a blast.”
TALENT SHOW
Do you know a child age 12 or younger with a precocious talent in academics, athletics or the arts? The Times Free Press is searching for children to feature in “Talent Show,” which will appear in the Life section on Tuesdays. To nominate a child as a possible subject of a future feature article, e-mail staff writer Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or call him at 423-757-6205.