Sugar Hill Gang

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Sugar Hill Gang's Bio: The members, all from Englewood, New Jersey, called themselves Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank and Master Gee. They were assembled into a group by producer Sylvia Robinson who also founded Sugar Hill Records, along with her husband, the record mogul Joe Robinson.

This pioneering group inaugurated the recorded history of rap music with their single "Rapper's Delight", a multi-platinum seller in 1979. Positive Force also played on a few of the Sugarhill Gang releases.

"Rapper's Delight" was a #36 hit on the U.S. pop chart and a #4 hit on the U.S. R&B chart in 1979. It is often cited as the first hip hop single; however it can be argued that it was actually "King Tim III (Personality Jock)", by the Fatback Band, which at the time was considered to be under the funk genre.

"Rapper's Delight" used a track cut from a Sugar Hill house band called Positive Force with Chip Shearin on bass Brian Morgan on guitar. The track sampled "Good Times" by Chic. Big Bank Hank's verses were lyrics written by Grandmaster Caz. However despite the success, Caz did not receive any royalties for his contribution. Chic's Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement over "Rapper's Delight", the first of many such legal battles for rap. It was settled out of court, leaving Rodgers with a large cut of all future royalties.

The Sugarhill Gang had hits, such as "Apache", "Eighth Wonder" (which was performed on the American music show Soul Train (in 1981), "Rapper's Reprise [Jam Jam]", and "Showdown" (with the Furious Five). In 1999, they reunited and recorded Jump on It!, a hip hop children's album.

Bob Sinclar collaborated with Wonder Mike and Master Gee on his 2009 release "Lala Song" … Read more