Sylvia Robinson R.I.P.

Singer, songwriter and record producer, Sylvia Robinson, one half of the famous duo Mickey & Sylvia, passed away at the age of 75 on September 29. A spokeswoman for her family said that Robinson had been in a coma for some time. She passed away at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus. The cause of death was congestive heart failure.

Born in New York City on March 6, 1936, Robinson made her first recording at age 14 while still in high school. She sang with Mickey Baker from 1956 until 1962. She later married musician, Joseph Robinson.

“Love is Strange” was a No. 1 hit in 1957 for Mickey and Sylvia and the original song has been featured in many film and TV soundtracks. It was featured in “Dirty Dancing” (1987) with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey lip-synching the words, and, in the video below you see it in “Lipstick on Your Collar,” where the characters are named Mick and Sylvia (probably just so they could lip-synch this song).

 
Sylvia Robinson also had a solo hit as “Sylvia” in 1973 with the sexy song, “Pillow Talk.”

Robinson and her husband founded All Platinum Records in the late 1960s, producing the first hit single for The Moments, “Love on a Two-Way Street.” She later decided in 1979 to record rap and was the driving force behind the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” earning the handle “the mother of hip-hop.”

Robinson is survived by her sons Joey, Leland and Rhondo and 10 grandchildren. Her husband passed away from cancer in 2000.