Vicki Sue Robinson (May 31, 1954 – April 27, 2000) – Hope Your Feelings Are Like Mine (1979)

Philly producer Theodore Life (aka T Life) co-wrote this masterpiece slow jam for the Movin' On LP, feat. Irene Cara, Cissy Houston and Luther Vandross on backing vocals.

Singer Vicki Sue Robinson began her career on Broadway as a cast member of Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar, but will forever be remembered for her massive 1976 disco hit “Turn the Beat Around.”

Born in Harlem, Robinson lived in Philadelphia until she was ten, when her family returned to New York City. She made her professional acting debut in 1970 at age 16 when she joined the cast of Hair. Robinson next appeared in small roles in two films, Going Home (1971) and To Find A Man (1972). In 1973, she joined the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Robinson was one of several former Hair cast members who were backing vocalists on Todd Rundgren’s LP Something/Anything? (1972). This led to more work as a background singer. During a recording session in 1975, RCA producer Warren Schatz was struck by her voice and cut some demos with her. One of them became her first single, a cover of the Foundations’ #1 UK hit from 1967 “Baby Now That I’ve Found You,” which did not chart.

But Schatz was still given the go-ahead by RCA to produce her debut LP, Never Gonna Let You Go, released in 1976. The final song recorded for the album was “Turn the Beat Around,” co-written by brothers Gerald and Peter Jackson of the Philly-based soul/R&B group Touch of Class. They wrote it for their own group’s debut album but gave it to Robinson after it was rejected by their label Midland International Records.

Year later, Peter Jackson explained what happened:

“We (were) excited because we know this song [“Turn the Beat Around”] is slammin’...[Midland] took the other four songs and they passed on that one. They said: 'We don't like that one. The lyrics move too fast. You have that jungle beat in there. It's not what's happening'.”

Released as a single in February, 1976, “Turn the Beat Around” hit #1 on dance charts that spring.

Then it blew up even bigger in Boston. There, disco/radio DJ and future top remixer John Luongo was an influential record promoter. He ran the Boston Record Pool which he had co-founded in 1975 and published Nightfall Magazine covering the city’s disco scene, second in size only to New York’s. Luongo got behind the record in a big way, helping break it on Top-40 radio in Boston, and it went to #1 in that market by June. That sent it up the national pop charts, and in August it peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Turn the Beat Around” spent six months on the charts in total and was one of the key songs which helped disco cross over to a mass audience.

Schatz produced two more albums for Robinson. Vicki Sue Robinson (1976) was released that fall. It featured an underrated, laid back disco cover of Bobby Womack’s “Daylight” that became another of her Top-10 dance hits.

The original had been a #5 R&B hit for Womack in 1975. He co-wrote it with Harold Payne, produced by David Rubinson with Melvin “Wah Wah Watson” Ragin on board as associate producer, and the Pointer Sisters on background vocals.

In August, 1977, Robinson released an eleven and a half minute long 12” single version of “Hold Tight,” originally by Bread. It went to #2 on dance charts, and was featured on her third album, Half & Half, which was not released until 1978.

For Robinson’s fourth LP Movin’ On (1979), Philly producer Theodore Life (aka T Life) took over production duties, although Schatz was still credited as executive producer. Life famously discovered a teenage Evelyn “Champagne” King while she was working with her mother one night, singing as they cleaned the offices of Philadelphia International Records.

He co-wrote seven of the eight tracks on Movin’ On, including the album’s superb title track, the funky disco cut “What’s Happening In My Life,” and its masterpiece, the magnificent slow jam “Hope Your Feelings Are Like Mine.” Life’s other co-writers on “Hope Your Feelings Are Like Mine” were Bill Greene and Joe Freeman.

Besides T Life on guitar, the LP featured Will Lee on bass, Steve Robbins on keyboards, Sam Peake on saxes, Leo Adamian on drums, and an all-star lineup of backing vocalists including Irene Cara, Cissy Houston, and Luther Vandross.

Surprisingly, Movin’ On did not chart, and none of its tracks made a splash on dancefloors. But later that year in 1979, Robinson had another disco hit with “Nighttime Fantasy.”

The track was included on the soundtrack to the disco vampire exploitation film Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula, co-written by and starring Nai Bonet, which was shot on location around 42nd Street in New York City and hit theatres in March, 1979. Released as a 12” single, it reached #21 on dance charts.

#disco #soul #TLife #Nocturna #VickiSueRobinson