Vicki Sue Robinson
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| Vicki Sue Robinson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Vicki Sue Robinson |
| Born | 31 May 1954 Harlem, New York, USA |
| Died | April 27, 2000 (aged 45) Wilton, Connecticut. |
| Genre(s) | Disco, Pop music, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Actress, back-up vocalist, session musician |
| Years active | 1970 – 2000 |
| Label(s) | RSO Records, RCA Records, Prelude Records, RCA Records, Ariola Records |
| Associated acts | Itsuro Shimoda, Robert Stigwood, Scott Fagan, Warren Schatz, Irene Cara, Cher, Michael Bolton, RuPaul, Cyndi Lauper |
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" [1].
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[edit] Early Life and Career
Born in Harlem, New York, to an African American father and a Caucasian 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. That same year she was invited to sing backing vocals on Todd Rundgren's Something, Anything album. The following year she was ask to do a concert tour of Japan with Itsuro Shimoda and record backing vocals on his album Love Songs and Lamentations. When she returned Robert Stigwood of RSO Records offered her a part in the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar in 1973.
[edit] Success and Later Career
In early 1975 Vicki's old acquaintance, Scott Fagan, invited her to sing backing vocals on his upcoming album, Many Sunny Places. While in the studio Warren Schatz, a producer/engineer for a subsidiary label of RCA, fell in love with Vicki's voice. He invited her into his studio to record a few demos and the rest is history. She was signed to RCA and 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. She recorded the lead vocal for the track in one take. Although Robinson would go on to chart about a dozen more tunes on Billboard's Disco/Dance chart, including Daylight and Hold Tight from her 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 asked 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 1980s 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 1970s and early 1980s, 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 1980s and early to mid 1990s, 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, Maybelline, Downey fabric softener, Haines underwear, New York Bell, and Folgers coffee.
In 1985 Robinson's vocals were used as the singing voice for actress Kath Soucie in the animated TV series Jem throughout its three year run.
[edit] Career Resurgence
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. Her successful return to music lead to TV guest appearances on a number of talk shows as well as recording, acting and stage projects. First she was invited to provide backing vocals on RuPaul's 1996 album Foxy Lady, were the two of them also recorded a duet. Then, in 1997, DJ Junior Vasquez sought Vicki out to record the track House Of Joy which became Vicki's first hit single in the United Kingdom. She was then asked to record the track My Stomp, My Beat for the motion picture Chasing Amy, starring Ben Affleck. In October of that same year Robinson played herself on Comedy Central's mock TV documentary Unauthorized Biography: Milo, Death of a Supermodel. A resurgence of interest in disco music by 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.
Upon returning to the U.S. in 1999, Robinson went back to her roots in theatre by 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 received raved reviews. In June of that same year she provided lead vocals for the song "Pokémon (Dance Mix)" from the "2.B.A. Master" soundtrack to the animated TV series Pokémon. 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. However, before her state became terminal Robinson was able muster up the courage and strength 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. New York DJ Danny Echi was her personal assistant for 20 years steady.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album | Black Albums | Pop Albums |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Never Gonna Let You Go | #51 | #49 |
| 1976 | Vicki Sue Robinson | #39 | #45 |
| 1978 | Half & Half | #56 | #110 |
| 1979 | Movin' On | n/a | n/a |
[edit] Singles
- "Baby Now That I Found You - 1975
- "Turn the Beat Around" - 1976
- "Never Gonna Let You Go" - 1976
- "Daylight" - 1976
- "Should I Stay" / "I Won't Let You Go" - 1977
- "Hold Tight" - 1977
- "Trust In Me" - 1978
- "Jealousy" - 1978
- "Freeway Song" - 1978
- "Nighttime Fantasy" - 1979 (from the film Nocturna)
- "Nothin' But A Heartache"
- "Hot Summer Night" - 1981
- "Give My Love Back" - 1982
- "Summertime Fun"
- "To Sir with Love" - 1983
- "Everlasting Love" - 1984
- "Grab Them Cakes" - 1985 (Junykard Dog featuring Vicki Sue Robinson)
- "For Real" - 1995
- "House of Joy" - 1997
- "Move On" - 1999
- "Pokemon (Dance Mix)" - 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
- List of number-one dance hits (United States)
- List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
