Sylvia Robinson
Robinson in 1976
Background information
Also known as	Little Sylvia Sylvia Sylvia Vanderpool Sylvia Robbins Mother of Hip Hop[1]
Born	Sylvia Vanterpool (1935-05-29)May 29, 1935[2][3][4] Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Origin	Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	September 29, 2011(2011-09-29) (aged 76)[5] Secaucus, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Blues R&B rock soul funk disco hip hop
Occupations	Singer record producer
Instruments	Vocals guitar synthesizer
Years active	1950–2011
Labels	Savoy Columbia Jubilee Cat Groove Rainbow RCA Vik Willow Records King All Platinum Stang Vibration Sugar Hill
Spouse	Joseph Robinson Sr. ​ ​ (m. 1959, divorced)​

Sylvia Robinson (néeVanterpool; May 29, 1935^[2][3][4][6] – September 29, 2011), knownmononymously asSylvia, was an American singer and record producer. Robinson achieved success as a performer on two R&B chart toppers: as half ofMickey & Sylvia with the 1957 single "Love Is Strange", and her solo record "Pillow Talk" in 1973. She later became known for her work as founder and CEO of the pioneeringhip hop labelSugar Hill Records.^{[7][circular reference]}

Robinson is credited as the driving force behind two landmark singles in the hip hop genre: "Rapper's Delight" (1979) by theSugarhill Gang,^[8] and "The Message" (1982) byGrandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, both of which she produced. At the 11th Annual Rhythm and Blues Awards Gala in 2000, she received a Pioneer Award for her career in singing and for founding Sugarhill Records.^[9] Several publications have dubbed her the "Mother of Hip Hop". In 2022, she was posthumously inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in theAhmet Ertegun Award category for being a major influence on the creative development of hip-hop's early successes,^[10] and she is the first woman to receive the award unaccompanied by another person.

Robinson was born asSylvia Vanterpool^[11] on May 29, 1935, inHarlem, New York, United States, to Herbert, who worked for General Motors,^[12] and Ida Vanterpool.^[2][13] Robinson attendedWashington Irving High School untildropping out at the age of 14,^[14] and began recording music in 1950 forColumbia Records under the stage name "Little Sylvia", including with the trumpeter / vocalist / bandleaderHot Lips Page.^[15][16]

In 1954, she began teaming up withKentucky guitaristMickey Baker, who taught her how to play guitar. In 1956, the duo now known asMickey & Sylvia recorded theBo Diddley andJody Williams-penned rock single, "Love Is Strange", which topped the R&B chart and reached number eleven on theBillboard pop chart in early 1957. After several more releases including the modestly successful "There Oughta Be a Law", Mickey & Sylvia split up in 1958 and she later married Joseph Robinson. Sylvia restarted her solo career shortly after her initial split from Baker, first under the name Sylvia Robbins. In 1960, Robinson produced the record "You Talk Too Much" byJoe Jones, but she did not receive credit.

In 1961, Mickey & Sylvia recorded more songs together for various labels including their own. Their label was called Willow Records and was distributed byKing Records ofCincinnati. That year, Baker provided vocals and Robinson played guitar onIke & Tina Turner's hit single "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" which earned Ike & Tina their first Grammy nomination. "I paid for the session, taught Tina the song; that's me playing guitar," Robinson said in a 1981 interview withBlack Radio Exclusive.^[17]

In 1964, frustrated with the music business, Baker moved toParis.

In 1966, the Robinsons moved toNew Jersey where they formed a soul music label,All Platinum Records, the following year, with artist Lezli Valentine, formerly ofthe Jaynetts, bringing the label its first hit with "I Won't Do Anything". In 1968, the duo signed aWashington, D.C. act namedThe 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" (1970), which Sylvia co-wrote and produced withBert Keyes and (uncredited) lyrics by Lezli Valentine. Other hits on the label and its subsidiaries, including Stang and Vibration, includedShirley & Company's "Shame, Shame, Shame" (1975), The Moments' "Sexy Mama" and "Look at Me (I'm in Love)", Retta Young's "(Sending Out An) S.O.S." (1975), and the Whatnauts/Moments collaboration, "Girls". Robinson co-wrote and produced many of the tracks, although later she was supported by two members of The Moments, Al Goodman and Harry Ray, as well as locally based producers, George Kerr and Nate Edmonds.

In 1972, Robinson sent a demo of a song she had written called "Pillow Talk" toAl Green. When Green passed on it due to his religious beliefs,^[18] Robinson decided to record it herself, returning to her own musical career. Billed simply as Sylvia, the record became a major hit, reaching number-one on the R&B chart and crossing over to reach theUSBillboard Hot 100 (#3), while also reaching #14 on theUK Singles Chart in the summer of 1973. She was awarded agold disc by theR.I.A.A. in May 1973, and earned a nomination for theGrammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the1974 Grammy Awards.^[18] "Pillow Talk"'s subtly orgasmic gasps and moans predated those of the 1975Donna Summer song "Love to Love You Baby".^[19] (Both were preceded bySerge Gainsbourg's 1967 "Je t'aime... moi non plus," first recorded withBrigitte Bardot, then the following year withJane Birkin.) Reviewing Robinson's 1973 debut LP (also titledPillow Talk),Robert Christgau wrote inChristgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981) that it is "Let's Get It On without production values. Call it underdeveloped if you want; I'll mention that it's unaffected. Including the best peace lyric heard lately, entitled 'Had Any Lately?'"^[20]

Robinson recorded four solo albums on the Vibration subsidiary^[21] and had other R&B hits including "Sweet Stuff" and "Pussy Cat". "Pillow Talk"^[22] was a soulful medium dance number.

In the 1970s, the Robinsons co-foundedSugar Hill Records. The company was named after the culturally richSugar Hill area of Harlem, an affluentAfrican-American neighborhood inManhattan, New York City, known as a hub for artists and performers in the early and mid-1900s.^[23][24] The song "Rapper's Delight" (1979), performed byThe Sugarhill Gang, brought rap into the public music arena by attaining one of the first commercially successful hip hop songs^[25] and revolutionized the music industry by introducing rap, scratch, and breakdance. Later acts signed to Sugar Hill Records included all-female rap/funk groupThe Sequence, featuring a teenageAngie Stone (recording as "Angie B"), who had a million-selling hit in early 1980 with "Funk U Up".

In 1982, Sylvia Robinson withGrandmaster Melle Mel produced the record"The Message", which was performed byGrandmaster Flash and The Furious Five.^[26] The record discussed life in the ghetto and became one of the most influential tracks of the hip-hop genre.^[26] On December 5, 2012,Rolling Stone selected "The Message" as one of the "50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time". In order forRolling Stone to compose this list, the publication asked 33 different artists and experts from every genre of music includingBusta Rhymes,Boots Riley fromthe Coup,Mike D from theBeastie Boys andTalib Kweli.^[27] Once the votes were in, "The Message" was placed in the number 1 spot on the list.^[27] Grandmaster Flash stated, "And when that project was on the slate to be done--The Message, I'm talking about--she would ask us for a period of time about doing a record having to do with the real life things that happen in the 'hood. And we kind of ducked it for a minute."^[28] Without Sylvia Robinson's insistence and pressure there would be no"The Message". This was the first record of its kind, where the DJ who was the cornerstone ofhip hop at the time (1980s) was not involved in creating a track that they performed.^[28]

Sugar Hill Records folded in 1985 due to changes in the music industry, the competition of other hip-hop labels such asProfile andDef Jam and also financial pressures. Robinson, who had by now divorced Joe Robinson,^[29] 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 asNaughty by Nature.

Robinson was married to businessman Joseph Robinson Sr. from May 1959 until their amicable divorce in the late 1980s.^[30] Together they had three children, sons Joseph "Joey" Robinson Jr. (1962–2015),^[31][32] Leland Robinson (b. 1965 or 1966) and Rhondo "Scutchie" Robinson (1970–2014).^[33] Robinson owned a bar in Harlem, New York named "Joey's Place" after her husband in the 1960s.^[34] Robinson also owned another New York bar and nightclub named the Blue Morocco during the mid-1960s.^[35]

Robinson died on the morning of September 29, 2011, at the age of 76, at Meadowlands Hospital inSecaucus, New Jersey, due to congestive heart failure.^[13][36]

• In 2003, American electronic musicianMoby sampled her song "Sunday" for his song "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)".
• In theDrunk History episode "American Music" (2014), Sylvia Robinson was portrayed byRetta.
• Sylvia Robinson is one of the inspirations for the characterCookie Lyon (portrayed byTaraji P. Henson) on the popularFox television showEmpire.^[37]
• Robinson is featured on the documentary seriesProfiles of African-American Success.^[38]
• In a March 2015 piece inThe New York Times debating U.S. copyright laws, writerM. K. Asante cited the need for artists to return to Robinson's mantra of "Don't copy things that are out there... come up with something new, something different."^[39]

In 2014, producerPaula Wagner acquired the film rights to Robinson's life story from her son, Joey Robinson, an executive at Sugar Hill Records.^[40] Joey (who died in July 2015)^[31] was scheduled to executive produce and serve as a consultant on the project, along with rapperGrandmaster Melle Mel, while music executiveRobert Kraft was to co-produce the film along withStephanie Allain.^[41][42] In October 2015,Warner Bros. announced that it would be the studio producing the film, and thatMalcolm Spellman and Carlito Rodriguez, two of the writers onEmpire, were writing the script.^[41] In October 2018, it was announced that Wagner and Warner Bros. were still moving forward with the film, Spellman and Rodriguez had been joined by Tracy Oliver in completing the script,Justin Simien had been attached as the director, and that Oliver would join Robinson's son Leland as executive producers.^[43]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSylvia Robinson.

• Sylvia Robinson discography atDiscogs
• Sylvia Robinson atAllMusic

• 1935 births
• 2011 deaths
• 20th-century African-American women singers
• 20th-century American singers
• 20th-century American women singers
• 21st-century African-American musicians
• 21st-century African-American women
• African-American guitarists
• African-American record producers
• African-American songwriters
• African-American women guitarists
• American funk singers
• American music industry executives
• American soul singers
• American women guitarists
• American women hip-hop musicians
• American women record producers
• Burials at George Washington Memorial Park (Paramus, New Jersey)
• Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States
• Mickey & Sylvia members
• Record producers from New York (state)
• Singers from New York City
• Songwriters from New York (state)
• Sugar Hill Records (hip-hop label) artists
• Washington Irving High School (New York City) alumni
• Women hip-hop record producers

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from December 2014
• Articles with hCards
• All articles lacking reliable references
• Articles lacking reliable references from May 2025
• All articles containing circular references
• Commons category link from Wikidata