Sylvia Robinson was an
American singer,
musician,
record producer, and
record label executive, most notably known for her work as founder/CEO of the
hip hop label
Sugar Hill Records.
She is credited as the driving force behind two landmark singles in the genre. The first was "
Rapper's Delight" by the
Sugarhill Gang, which was the first rap song to be released by a hip hop act.
[1] The second was
"The Message" by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.
(March 6, 1936 – September 29, 2011)
Biography
She was born as
Sylvia Vanderpool (aka Vanterpool
[2]) in 1936 in
New York City.
[3] She began recording music in 1950 for
Columbia Records under the billing,
Little Sylvia. In 1954, she began teaming up with
Kentucky guitarist
Mickey Baker, who then taught her how to play guitar. In 1956, the duo now known as
Mickey & Sylvia, recorded the
Bo Diddley and
Jody Williams-penned rock single, "
Love is Strange", which topped the R&B charts and reached number eleven on the
Billboard
pop charts in early 1957. After several more releases including the
modestly successful "There Oughta Be a Law", Mickey & Sylvia split
up in 1959 with Sylvia later marrying Joe Robinson that same year.
Sylvia re-started her solo career shortly after her initial split from
Baker. In 1961, the duo reunited and recorded more songs together for
various labels. They're most noted during this period for singing
background on
Ike & Tina Turner's hit single, "
It's Gonna Work Out Fine". In 1964, frustrated with the music business, Baker moved to
Paris.
In 1966, the Robinsons moved to
New Jersey where they formed a soul music label,
All Platinum Records,
the following year, with artist Lezli Valentine, formerly of the
Jaynettes, bringing the label its first hit with "I Won't Do Anything".
In 1968, the duo signed a
Washington, D.C. act named
The Moments,
who immediately found success with "Not on the Outside". Within a
couple of years and with a new lineup, the group scored their biggest
hit with "
Love on a Two-Way Street",
which Sylvia co-wrote and produced with Burt Keyes and (uncredited)
lyrics by Lezli Valentine. Other hits the label and its subsidiaries,
including Stang and Vibration, would have included
Shirley & Company's "
Shame, Shame, Shame", the Moments' "Sexy Mama" and "Look at Me I'm in Love" and the Whatnauts/Moments collaboration, "Girls".
In 1972, Robinson sent a demo of a song she had written called "
Pillow Talk" to
Al Green. When Green passed on it due to his religious beliefs,
[4] Robinson decided to record it herself, returning to her own musical career. Billed under simply
Sylvia,
the record became an instant hit reaching number-one on the R&B
charts and crossing over to reach Billboard Hot 100 #3, plus also
reaching #14 in the UK at the beginning of 1973. She was awarded a
gold disc by the
R.I.A.A. in May 1973.
[4] Robinson would record four solo albums on the Vibration subsidiary
[5] and had other R&B hits including "Sweet Stuff" and "Pussycat". "Pillow Talk" has been called an early example of
prototypical disco music and went on to sell two million copies. The vocals are replete with moaning and heavy breathing, predating
Donna Summer's orgasmic moans on "
Love to Love You Baby". The drumming rhythm would reappear in 1985 on
Kate Bush's "
Running Up that Hill", then again in 1987 on
Fleetwood Mac's "
Big Love".
In the 1970s, the Robinsons founded
Sugar Hill Records. The company was named after the culturally rich
Sugar Hill
area of Harlem, an affluent African American neighborhood in Manhattan
New York City, known as a hub for artists and performers in the early
and mid 1900s.
[6][7]
She co-wrote and produced
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five's most successful single,
"The Message",
which is credited as the rap song that brought socially conscious
lyrics into hip hop. She persuaded the group to record the song while it
was still an estranged demo recording, surprisingly created by a studio
percussionist for the Sugar Hill Gang.
[8] By commercializing the market for rap records, Robinson is credited as the mother of modern
hip-hop.
The song "Rapper's Delight" , which was performed by The Sugar Hill
Gang, brought rap into the public music arena, and revolutionized the
music industry as it introduced the idea of re-using existing
compositions, a practice that later became known as "
sampling".
[citation needed] . Sylvia's song, "Sunday", was
sampled by
Moby in his 2002 album
18. Later acts signed to
Sugar Hill Records included all-female rap/funk group
The Sequence, featuring a teenage
Angie Stone (recording as "Angie B"), who had a million-selling hit in early 1980 with "Funk U Up".
After Sugar Hill folded due to changes in the music industry and the presences of hip-hop labels
Profile and
Def Jam
and due to financial pressures in 1985, Robinson, who had by now
divorced Joe Robinson, continued her efforts as a music executive,
forming Bon Ami Records in 1987. The label was noted for signing the act
The New Style, who later left and found success as
Naughty by Nature.
Robinson died on the morning of September 29, 2011, aged 75, at Meadowlands Hospital in
Secaucus, New Jersey from congestive
heart failure.
[3][9]
Discography
Mickey & Sylvia
- 1957: Mickey & Sylvia
- 1957: New Sounds
- 1957: Love is Strange
- 1973: Do It Again
- 1996: The Willow Sessions
- 1997: Love is Strange: A Golden Classics Edition
Sylvia
- 1973: Pillow Talk
- 1976: Sylvia
- 1977: Lay It On Me
- 1990: The Great Works of Sylvia & George: Queen & King of Sweet N.J.
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