Vicki Sue Robinson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Vicki Sue Robinson (May 31, 1954 - April 27, 2000) was an American theatre and film actress and singer, closely associated with the disco era of late 1970s pop music; she is most famous for her 1976 hit, "Turn the Beat Around".

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born in Harlem, New York, to an African American father and a European American mother, Robinson was encouraged from childhood to pursue a career in show business. Robinson's first public performance was in 1960 at the age of six, when she accompanied her mother on stage at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. She had to stand on a chair to reach the microphone. Ten years later, at the age of sixteen, she joined the Broadway cast of the musical Hair. She then landed a couple of small movie roles in the films Going Home (1971) with Robert Mitchum and To Find A Man (1972) with Pamela Sue Martin. Her success led her to join the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar in 1973.

[edit] Later career

Her debut album (1976) entitled Never Gonna Let You Go, provided her with the biggest hit of her career. The single "Turn the Beat Around" reached the U.S. Top 10, spent six months on the chart, and earned her a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and the Billboard Award for No. 1 Pop album. Billboard magazine declared that she was the best new disco artist of the year. The track became a landmark for the disco revolution that followed. Robinson recorded the lead vocal for the track in one take. Although Robinson would chart about a dozen more tunes on Billboard's Disco/Dance chart from her three follow-up albums, they failed to achieve the pop success of "Turn the Beat Around".

In 1979 Robinson briefly returned to the silver screen, co-starring with Michael V. Gazzo and Peter Iacangelo in the black and white mobster film Gangsters. That same year she was ask to provide a single for the soundtrack to the vampire film Nocturna. The result was the Top 20 disco hit "Nighttime Fantasy", which was described by Billboard magazine as "rivoting".

Robinson kicked off the 1980's singing back-up on Irene Cara's Top Ten hit single "Fame" for the movie of the same title. In 1981 she signed with the Prelude record label, and released the club favorite "Hot Summer Night". She recorded two 12" 45's with a small label during this time period ("Admit It", "I'm Here And I'm Hot", "Summertime Fun" and "Give My Love Back"). She participated in RCA's Disco Extravaganza LP with her cover version of "Easy To Be Hard". Ariola Records also signed the soulful voice and released "Nothing But Heartaches" on a 7" single, but it also failed to grab much notice. In 1983 her disco cover version of Lulu's hit, "To Sir With Love", (Profile) reached the Top 5 in Australia. "To Sir" scored with critics and got her back on the American dance floor. Due to the disco backlash of the late 1970's and early 1980's, disco artists, like Robinson, were not having much success charting or getting their music aired.

So in 1984 Robinson released her last single of the decade, "Everlasting Love", which became a minor hit on the dance charts. Throughout the rest of the 1980's and early to mid 1990's, Robinson worked as a session singer on albums for top artists such as Cher, Michael Bolton, RuPaul and Cyndi Lauper among others, while at the same time establishing a career singing jingles for television advertising. She was the voice of Doublemint gum, Mayboline, Downey fabric softener, Haines underwear, New York Bell, and Folgers coffee.

In 1985 Robinson's vocals were used as the singing voice for voice actress Kath Soucie for the animated TV series Jem throughout its three year run.

Robinson regained some publicity from the success of Gloria Estefan's 1994 version of "Turn the Beat Around". The success of the single not only inspired Robinson to re-record a new version of the song for the flip side of her 1995 single "For Real", but put her back on the music map and in demand for concerts and TV guest appearances on shows like The RuPaul Show and others. She provided backup vocals on Rupaul's LP and the two recorded a duet which failed to garner much notice. In 1997 she achieved her only hit single in the United Kingdom with the track "House Of Joy". In October of that same year Robinson appeared as herself on Comedy Central's mock TV documentary Unauthorized Biography: Milo, Death of a Supermodel. A resurgence of interest in disco music in the mid 1990s led Robinson, along with fellow disco veterans K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Thelma Houston, Gloria Gaynor and The Village People to embark on a well received world tour. She recorded a track for the motion picture Chasing Amy, "My Stomp My Beat" which never saw the light of day due to legal complications.

[edit] Later years

Upon returning to the U.S., Robinson began performing in an Off-Broadway musical titled Behind The Beat which was semi-autobiographical in nature, and featured her hit songs, along with her best known jingles. The play was a continuation of her popular, enticing cabaret show, which won her the Back Stage Bristo Award for outstanding achievement. In June 1999 she provided the singing voice of Pikachu's Jukebox for the soundtrack to the animated TV series Pokemon. Three months later, in September, Robinson released her final single "Move On" which reached #18 on Billboard's Dance Chart. Sadly during that same month she was forced to withdraw from her Off-Broadway show owing to ill health. Before her state became terminal Robinson was able to film the role of a fairy godmother in the independent film Red Lipstick, which was released on April 16, 2000.

Eleven days later, on April 27, 2000, Robinson died from cancer at her home in Wilton, Connecticut.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  • Never Gonna Let You Go - 1976
  • Vicki Sue Robinson - 1976
  • Half & Half - 1978
  • Movin' On - 1979

[edit] Singles

  • "Turn the Beat Around" - 1976
  • "Common Thief" - 1976
  • "Daylight" - 1976
  • "Should I Stay" / "I Won't Let You Go" - 1977
  • "Hold Tight" - 1977
  • "Trust In Me" - 1978
  • "Nighttime Fantasy" - 1979 (from the film Nocturna)
  • "Hot Summer Night" - 1981
  • "To Sir with Love" - 1983
  • "Everlasting Love" - 1984
  • "For Real" - 1995
  • "House of Joy" - 1997
  • "Move On" - 1999

[edit] Filmography

  • Going Home - 1971
  • To Find A Man - 1972
  • Gangsters - 1979
  • Unauthorized Biography: Milo, Death Of A Supermodel - 1997
  • Red Lipstick - 2000

[edit] Theater

  • Hair - 1970
  • Soon - 1971
  • Long Time Coming, Long Time Gone - 1971
  • Voices From The Third World - 1972
  • Jesus Christ Superstar - 1973
  • Vicki Sue Robinson: Behind The Beat - 1999

[edit] See also

[edit] References

    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../v/i/c/Vicki_Sue_Robinson_9a1d.html"