Neil 'Roberto' Williams

Neil 'Roberto' Williams (born 20 July 1978) is a British radio presenter, television presenter, voice-over artist and DJ.

Williams was born in London. He currently presents the national evening^[1] show from 7pm^[2] on the Heart FM Network, owned by Global Radio, under the stage name 'Roberto'. Prior to Heart FM, he hosted mid mornings^[3] on the Capital FM Network.

Early life

Born and raised in Enfield, North London, Williams is the younger of two children. He was educated at an all boys school, Friern Barnet Grammar School, in Friern Barnet, London. Later, he studied Hospitality Management at Thames Valley University in Ealing, followed by a radio training course at Town FM in North London. Since then, he has continued to present in radio. After losing over ten stone in weight he moved into television presenting.

Career

Williams started his radio career in August 1999 at Town FM in North London, a local community radio station. His first show was early breakfast between 4 and 6am. After a few months, he was promoted to presenting breakfast. Both positions were unpaid, so whilst presenting both shows, he worked at T.G.I. Friday's^[4] in Enfield as waiter and bartender.

Following a period at Town FM, Williams moved to Mercury 96.6 in Watford (now Heart Hertfordshire) as a cover presenter. This led to his first full-time show in commercial radio, presenting mid-mornings on Chiltern FM (now Heart Four Counties). From there he moved to Oxfordshire to present on Fox FM (now Heart Thames Valley), this was then followed by a move to Birmingham to present on BRMB (now Free Radio.)

Roberto

In 2008, Neil hosted his first show on Capital FM in London, covering Sunday evening 7 till 10pm. He only did one show as Neil Williams. The next week he presented the show as ‘Roberto’, his career from that point forward has all been under the stage name ‘Roberto’.

During his time at Capital FM, Roberto hosted afternoons (1-4pm) followed by mid-mornings (10am–1pm). He also achieved the most listened to mid-morning show in London,^[5] was part of the team that took Capital FM National and also interviewed music stars like Tinie Tempah,^[6] Justin Bieber^[7] (that interview has gone on to be one of the most watched in Capital FMs history), Jessie J^[8] and Enrique Iglesias^[9] on the radio and in video interviews at the Summertime Ball and Jingle Bell Ball.

In 2012, Roberto joined the Heart Network,^[10] also owned by Global Radio, hosting the national evening show 7-10pm.

Roberto has also been involved in television programmes for Channel 4, ITV and Sky.

Voice Over

Williams is a male voice-over artist with his own home studio. Clients include Sky 1, The Sun, BMW, McLaren, British Airways and ESPN.

DJ

Throughout his career, Williams has djayed and hosted^[11] at events and nightclubs in London, Mallorca, Toronto, Miami and Los Angeles. Clients include London Fashion Week, Clyde & Co, CapCo, DSTRKT, ASOS^[12] and Tiger Tiger.^[13]

Weight Loss

At his biggest, Williams weighed 23 and a half stone.^[14]He’d been ‘big’ since a young age and carried the weight into adult life. A break up with a partner inspired him into losing weight, and since then he has lost over 10 stone. Most of that weight was lost within six months^[15] in an unconventional way that involved doing no cardio and no operations.

Charity Work

Born with a hole in his Heart, Williams has been a supporter of the British Heart Foundation throughout his career, taking part in charity events including the London to Brighton Bike Ride,^[16] a skydive^[17][18] and numerous running events.

In 2009, Williams swam the Thames in the Great Swim for Help A Capital Child. In 2011 he ran the Virgin London Marathon^[19] and the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon, again for Help a Capital Child.

References

External links

• Roberto Official Website
• Roberto Google+ Page
• Roberto Heart FM
• Roberto Twitter Page
• Roberto Facebook Page