Sugarhill Gang Rapper Dead at 57

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Billboard

By Joe Lynch | November 11, 2014 12:18 PM EST

Sugarhill Gang rapper Big Bank Hank -- born Henry Jackson -- has died at age 57. TMZ first reported the news, which Rolling Stone later confirmed.

Jackson was suffering from cancer and passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The Bronx-born rapper was one of hip-hop's first pioneers as one third of the Sugarhill Gang, whose international hit "Rapper's Delight" became the first rap single to crack the Billboard Hot 100 top 40. It was also one of the first rap singles, period, and as such had an immense influence on the nascent genre.

Less than one month ago, "Rapper's Delight" celebrated the 35th anniversary of its debut on the Billboard charts.

Read more: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6312301/sugarhill-gang-rapper-dead

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I note that sources are divided on whether the group is the "Sugar Hill Gang" or the "Sugarhill Gang." I'm posting the article as is.

I love that tune. So heeeeeere it is, from Soul Train, May 16, 1981:

I have to admit, though, that this guy's cover is awesome:

Well, in for a dime; in for a dollar.

Sugarhill Gang Rapper Big Bank Hank Dead at 57

The splashiest voice on "Rapper's Delight" helped introduce hip hop to a generation

By Christopher R. Weingarten | November 11, 2014

Big Bank Hank, one third of pioneering rap group the Sugarhill Gang, has passed away from cancer at the age of 57. David Mallie, manager of the group's other members Wonder Mike and Master Gee, confirmed the rapper's death to Rolling Stone, saying the two surviving members were informed of his death on Tuesday morning.

Hank, born Henry Jackson, was best known as the splashiest and most colorful voice on 1979's "Rapper's Delight," the runaway 12-inch that served as rap's musical ambassador and the record that almost single-handedly brought hip hop culture from the crumbling streets of the South Bronx to the rest of America and beyond.
....

Jackson had lived in the Bronx during hip-hop's inception, attending high school with pioneers like Kool Herc and Coke La Rock and briefly having a managerial role with Caz himself. By 1979, rap music had spent a half-decade as live-performance party music, powered by street lights and youthful energy. However, it had never made it to vinyl until record producer Sylvia Robinson and her son Joey recruited Hank from an Englewood, New Jersey pizza parlor, where he was saving up money after getting a degree in oceanography from Bronx Community College.

Covered in pizza dough, he auditioned in the back of Joey's Oldsmobile 98, causing enough commotion to bring both Master Gee and Wonder Mike over. A late night cipher in Sylvia Robinson's home on a Friday night formed a group that started recording that Monday. The session, little more than a take or two of the three men rapping over the studio band playing Chic's "Good Times," made music history almost instantly.

The dance mix:

Has anyone seen my disco shoes?

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Wow. Was listening to my local old school station during the day and wondered why

they suddenly started playing Sugar Hill Gang songs this evening.

R.I.P. Hank and thank you for being a part of my early college years. The days when the music was called RAP *not* "Hip Hop".

Have to do a tribute (thankfully they were more than 1-hit wonders...lol) -

[bigwillq]

2. RIP

[Garion_55]

3. sad day

rappers delight was one of the first songs i can remember listening to on the radio as a kid as well as stuff like double dutch bus kool and the gang and kc and the sunshine band.

a white kid growing up in silicon valley california and r&B / hip hop music was the stuff i listened to the more then any other kind of style and mostly due to the song rappers delight. that song was the first real rap song and still is better then anything put out today.


RIP big hank!

[BumRushDaShow]

5. "double dutch bus"

LOL A Philly song (really)!

[LovingA2andMI]

4. RIP......

[Tom Ripley]

6. RIP