Singer, Record Producer. Born Sylvia Vanterpool, she was regarded as the pioneer mother of the hip-hop music craze. Her roots in the record music industry began in the 1950s, as a blues singer. She recorded for Columbia Records, released the single "Chocolate Candy Blues" and later was part of the pop duo Mickey & Sylvia which had the Top 40 hit, "Love Is Strange" (1957). In 1964, she married Joe Robinson continued working in the record business and helped form the All Platinum Records label. There she wrote and produced successful songs such as "Love on a Two Way Street", a hit for the Moments in 1970 and "Shame, Shame, Shame" recorded by Shirley and Lee in 1974. As a solo performer, she released the single "Pillow Talk" (1973), which reached number one on the R&B charts and sold over two million copies. By the mid 1970s, the Robinsons founded Sugar Hill Records and formed the group The Sugar Hill Gang which featured rap singers Master Gee, Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank. In 1979, The Sugar Hill Gang released the hit "Rapper's Delight", which became recognized as the first commercially successful rap song to get radio play and reach the top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. She is also credited for revolutionizing the record industry by introducing the idea of re-using existing compositions, a practice that became known as sampling. In addition, she was the guiding force for artist Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's most successful single "The Message" (1982), the rap song that brought socially conscious lyrics into hip hop music. She died of heart failure at age 75. In 2022, Robinson was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Non-Performer.
Singer, Record Producer. Born Sylvia Vanterpool, she was regarded as the pioneer mother of the hip-hop music craze. Her roots in the record music industry began in the 1950s, as a blues singer. She recorded for Columbia Records, released the single "Chocolate Candy Blues" and later was part of the pop duo Mickey & Sylvia which had the Top 40 hit, "Love Is Strange" (1957). In 1964, she married Joe Robinson continued working in the record business and helped form the All Platinum Records label. There she wrote and produced successful songs such as "Love on a Two Way Street", a hit for the Moments in 1970 and "Shame, Shame, Shame" recorded by Shirley and Lee in 1974. As a solo performer, she released the single "Pillow Talk" (1973), which reached number one on the R&B charts and sold over two million copies. By the mid 1970s, the Robinsons founded Sugar Hill Records and formed the group The Sugar Hill Gang which featured rap singers Master Gee, Wonder Mike and Big Bank Hank. In 1979, The Sugar Hill Gang released the hit "Rapper's Delight", which became recognized as the first commercially successful rap song to get radio play and reach the top 40 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. She is also credited for revolutionizing the record industry by introducing the idea of re-using existing compositions, a practice that became known as sampling. In addition, she was the guiding force for artist Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's most successful single "The Message" (1982), the rap song that brought socially conscious lyrics into hip hop music. She died of heart failure at age 75. In 2022, Robinson was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Non-Performer.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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