(September 29, 2011) Sylvia Robinson, known as the “Mother of Hip Hop” for her work on the pioneering Sugar Hill Records label, has died at age 75.
Robinson had a long a varied career, first hitting the national charts as one half of the recording duo Mickey and Sylvia, which scored a major hit with “Love is Strange.” It was over a decade later, in 1973, that she had her own #1 hit, with the sexy soul song, “Pillow Talk.”
She later co-founded and was the head of Sugar Hill Records, which scored the first rap smash hit, “Rapper’s Delight,” by the Sugar Hill Gang. Sugar Hill remained a force in rap music for years to come.
Robinson was in all ways a music pioneer and one of the first women to truly break the glass ceiling that existing for success as a producer and executive in the music industry. Her place in music history is secure.
