Sylvia Robinson, early hip-hop pioneer, dies

Sylvia Robinson, 75, a singer who performed rhythm-and-blues hits in the 1950s and later found resounding success as a producer who nurtured the birth of a new musical genre — hip-hop — with Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 song “Rapper’s Delight,” died Sept. 29 at a hospital in Secaucus, N.J. The Associated Press reported that she had congestive heart failure.

Mrs. Sylvia Robinson achievements as a record producer are difficult to overstate, said Dan Charnas, author of “The Big Payback:

Sylvia Robinson, early hip-hop pioneer, dies