Charles Luckyth Roberts, known professionally as Luckey Roberts, was born on August 7, 1887, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and passed away on February 5, 1968, in New York City. Roberts was a prominent American composer and stride pianist, contributing significantly to the jazz, ragtime, and blues genres. His career began in childhood, performing with traveling Vaudeville and Negro minstrel shows. Raised by the Ringolds, a show-business family, after his mother's early death, he became a lifelong Quaker and abstained from alcohol and tobacco.

Roberts' musical talents emerged early; he taught himself to play piano by age seven, initially only in the key of F-sharp. His compositions include "Junk Man Rag," "Moonlight Cocktail," "Pork and Beans," and "Railroad Blues." Throughout his life, Roberts worked as a musician, band/orchestra conductor, dancer, music and dance instructor, and even owned a restaurant and bar in New York City and Washington, D.C. He was married to Lena Sanford Roberts from 1911 until her death in 1958. Roberts was laid to rest at Frederick Douglass Memorial Gardens in Bay Terrace on Staten Island, New York.