She gave her first public performance in 1960 at the age of six, when she accompanied her mother on stage at the
Philadelphia Folk Festival. At the age of 16, while a student at the
New Lincoln School in
Manhattan, New York, Robinson made her professional performing debut when she joined the
Broadway cast of the musical
Hair. Robinson also had bit parts in the films
Going Home (1971) and
To Find A Man (1972). After a sojourn in
Japan, she returned to Broadway in 1973, joining the cast of
Jesus Christ Superstar. No. 11 in the Netherlands, and No. 12 in South Africa. The track earned Robinson a nomination for a
Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 1976, Robinson toured across the United States promoting her hit tune, "Turn the Beat Around". She performed on major TV shows including
The Midnight Special, ''Don Kirshner's Rock Concert
, The Merv Griffin Show
, Mike Douglas
, American Bandstand, and Soul Train''. She also performed at the Boarding House in
San Francisco, The Starwood in
Los Angeles, The Bottom Line, Felt Forum, Carnegie Hall in
New York, and other top venues. The original touring band consisted of Dan Pickering on trumpet and flute, Bill Cerulli on drums, Wendy Simmons on bass guitar, Nacho Mena on percussion, Vernie "Butch" Taylor on guitar, and George Pavlis on keyboards. George Pavlis later would be replaced by Joey Melotti on keyboards. The touring band members recorded four tracks on Robinson's second album,
Vicki Sue Robinson.
Self-titled album Again with Schatz producing, Robinson recorded
Vicki Sue Robinson for release in the fall of 1976. Although its lead single, a cover of
Bobby Womack's "
Daylight", was only a minor hit (#61), the album reached #45. Robinson's next Hot 100 appearance was in August 1977, with her version of
David Gates' "Hold Tight", which peaked at #67 (and #2 on the disco chart). Its parent album,
Half and Half, again produced by Schatz, was not released until 1978 and peaked at #110. In 1979, Robinson contributed the track "Easy to Be Hard" to the Schatz production
Disco Spectacular–an album of dance versions of songs from the musical
Hair, inspired by the release of the
film version–and recorded what would prove to be her final album, ''Movin' On''. Although Schatz was credited as the album's executive producer, that job was done by
Evelyn King's producer, T. Life. ''Movin' On's
tracks were ignored in the dance clubs, but Robinson scored a 1979 club hit with "Nighttime Fantasy", a track written and produced by Norman Bergen and Reid Whitelaw, recorded for the film Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula. Also in 1979, Robinson appeared in a film made by the same production company as Nocturna: Granddaughter of Dracula
titled Gangsters
(now called Hoodlums''), which also featured T. Life and
Cissy Houston, and the first credited screen role for
Jean Smart.
The 1980s In 1980 Robinson moved from RCA to
Ariola Records, where Warren Schatz had assumed the position of COO. However, Schatz did not continue as Robinson's producer at Ariola. Respecting her wishes to move in a new musical direction, he had her record at
Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with Clayton Ivey and Terry Woodford, producing the single "Nothin' But a Heartache". The recording of the
Michael McDonald composition was Robinson's sole Ariola release. She resumed recording dance music with Schatz with releases on a number of labels:
Prelude Records, Promise Records, Perfect Records, and
Profile Records. Her dance version of "
To Sir with Love", which became a surprise top ten hit in
Australia in 1984, came out on Profile. She then recorded the song "My Stomp, My Beat" for the film
Chasing Amy. In October 1997, Robinson played herself on
Comedy Central's mock TV documentary
Unauthorized Biography: Milo, Death of a Supermodel. A resurgence of interest in disco music in the mid-1990s led Robinson and fellow disco veterans
KC and the Sunshine Band,
Thelma Houston,
Gloria Gaynor, and the
Village People to embark on a well-received world tour. After returning to the U.S. in 1999, Robinson returned to her roots in theatre by performing in an Off-Broadway musical titled
Vicki: Behind The Beat which was semi-autobiographical in nature, and featured her hit songs and her best-known jingles. The play was a continuation of her popular
cabaret show. In June of that year, she provided the track "Pokémon (Dance Mix)" from the
Pokémon 2.B.A. Master soundtrack for the English dub of the
Pokémon anime. In September, Robinson released her final single, "Move On", which reached #18 on Billboard's Dance Chart. Also in September, she was forced to withdraw from her Off-Broadway show due to poor health. However during her illness, Robinson undertook the role of a fairy godmother in the independent film
Red Lipstick, which was released on April 16, 2000. ==Death==