Sylvia Robinson, vocalist, producer and co-owner with her husband Joe of the early hip-hop label Sugar Hill Records, has passed away at 75. As Little Sylvia, she recorded a number of songs; Robinson also had a smash hit with the single "Love is Strange," which she sang with Mickey Baker. Sylvia and Joe later opened Sugar Hill Records, which became one of the most popular and influential labels in hip hop.
She produced hip-hop's first commercially successful single, Rapper's Delight, and co-wrote Grandmaster and Melle Mel's anti-drugs anthem White Lines (Don't Do It).
Robinson died of congestive heart failure in New Jersey, said her publicist Greg Walker.
Memory eternal.
