‘Mother of hip-hop’ Sylvia Robinson dies at age 76

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HACKENSACK, N.J. — Sylvia Robinson, a music executive
who lit the fuse that ignited the popularity of hip-hop, died Thursday
morning at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus, N.J. She was
76.

The cause was congestive heart failure, said her publicist, Greg Walker.

Mrs.
Robinson and her husband, Joseph Robinson Sr., founded Sugar Hill
Records in Englewood, N.J., in the 1970s. It was Mrs. Robinson — half of
the 1950s rhythm-and-blues duo Mickey&Sylvia — who became intrigued
by the rapping she heard in June 1979 at a party at a Manhattan club.

In
a Vanity Fair interview six years ago she recalled how the DJ tossed in
his own catchphrases and rhymes while spinning R&B tunes. The crowd
went wild.

“I saw him talking to the kids and saw how they’d answer back,” she said.

Back
in Englewood, she discovered three young men who called themselves
Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank and Master Gee, and tasked them with
improvising over a rhythm track.

Mrs. Robinson
christened them the Sugar Hill Gang. Their 1979 hit “Rapper’s Delight”
topped out at No. 4 on the R&B charts and No. 34 on the Billboard
pop charts and is regarded as the first commercially viable rap single.

More
successes for the Robinsons’ label would follow, including Grandmaster
Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message,” a brutal take on ghetto
life. The 1982 single was lauded for its social awareness.

A
family friend, Dae Bennett, an Englewood-based recording executive and a
son of singer Tony Bennett, said Thursday that Mrs. Robinson and her
husband, who died in 2000, “were pretty much responsible for a whole
aspect of the current music industry.”

“I don’t think there are too many in the music industry who can claim that,” Bennett added.

Mrs. Robinson’s nickname — “the mother of hip-hop” — reflected her influence.

Sylvia
Vanterpool was born in New York City and made her recording debut while
attending Washington Irving High School. The sultry-voiced singer,
initially billed as Little Sylvia, teamed with her guitar teacher,
McHouston Baker, as Mickey&Sylvia. Their 1957 single “Love Is
Strange” reached the top of the R&B charts.

Billed as Sylvia, Mrs. Robinson had another R&B chart-topper, “Pillow Talk,” as a solo artist in 1973.

Mrs.
Robinson and her husband originally operated their label as All
Platinum Records. The label closed in 1986, and the building housing the
studio where the Sugar Hill Gang recorded the groundbreaking “Rapper’s
Delight” was destroyed by fire in 2002.

Mrs.
Robinson is survived by her sons, Joey and Leland of Tenafly, N.J., and
Rhondo of Englewood; two sisters, a brother, 10 grandchildren and two
great-grandchildren.

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