R.I.P. Sylvia Robinson

The great singer, musician, record producer and record label executive Sylvia Robinson died this morning at 75. She's one of popular music's more versatile figures, enjoying commercial success in the 50's and 60's as part of the duo Mickey & Sylvia (most notably with "Love Is Strange" in 1957), had a successful solo career in the 70's, and then in 1979 she was a frontrunner of hip-hop and rap music as producer and label boss for Sugar Hill Records, the label that released "Rapper's Delight" with The Sugarhill Gang, widely regarded as the first commercially successful rap single. She also produced another hip-hop staple, the 1982 classic "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five. R.I.P.

Mickey & Sylvia - Love Is Strange

The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight