Vicki Sue Robinson
May 31, 1954 – April 27, 2000
Vicki Sue Robinson had many accomplishments in music, theater and film, but it would be her smash it “Turn The Beat Around” that would forever make her a disco queen. Her life as an entertainer began at age six when she joined her mother on stage at the storied Philadelphia Folk Festival. At sixteen she was on Broadway as a cast member of Hair. She landed a couple of film roles, most notably Going Home and To Find A Man and by 1973, she was performing in the Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Then in 1975, while singing backing vocals on a friend’s album, she was offered a contract with RCA Records. 1976 saw the release of her debut, Never Gonna Let You Go, that included the smash hit, “Turn The Beat Around.” The album went to number one on the Billboard pop charts and earned Robinson a Grammy nomination. Robinson’s career continued to flourish through early 2000, but she never matched the success of that first album. Besides making her own records, her later years found her doing plenty of session work as well as acting on film and stage. And of course, “Turn The Beat Around” continued to find new audiences thanks to a popular cover by Gloria Estefan and from Robinson’s live appearances on the disco revival circuit. Robinson died from cancer on April 27, 2000 at just 46.
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