Sylvia Striplin (born March 1954) is a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

-based

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

, and R&B

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

. Sylvia was the youngest of five children. After a fire destroyed their home in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem, the family moved to the

North Bronx The North Bronx is the northern section of the Bronx, one of the five boroughs of New York City. It is bordered by Westchester County to the north, the South Bronx to the south, the Hudson River to the west and the Long Island Sound to the east. T ...

in New York — there Sylvia honed her craft. Sylvia loved singing. She made up songs on the family piano and sang them around the house. She took piano lessons during her grade school years and performed in recitals. She began singing professionally with neighborhood friends Gus Falcon and Malcolm Ballinger as a teenager. After high school, Sylvia attended the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

in Harlem where she was praised for her performance in the College's production of ''Anything Goes''. During the 1970s, Sylvia found work as a backup singer. In the late 1970s she auditioned for the role of Dorothy in ''

The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...

'' and was selected as the second understudy with the New York Company. She was eventually selected to play Dorothy in the road company production, which traveled to Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities, receiving excellent reviews along the way. During the late 1970s, Sylvia became a member of Aquarian Dream and worked with funk,

, R&B, and

vibraphonist The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Po ...

in his group Eighties Ladies. She was eventually signed to his Uno Melodic record label. where she recorded an album with him, an extended single of her own—"Give Me Your Love"—then her first solo album of the same name '' Give Me Your Love''. Her song "You Can't Turn Me Away," the flip side of her single and a track on her solo album, was featured in '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories'', playing on

quiet storm Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album '' A Quiet Storm''. The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Lind ...

station VCFL. It was also in the romantic comedy film ''

Prime A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only way ...

'' and the mini-film ''Ecology of Love'' with

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom h ...

. This song also served as the basis for the

Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...

/Junior M.A.F.I.A. hit, "

Get Money "Get Money" is a song by the American rap group Junior M.A.F.I.A., released as the third and final single from their debut album ''Conspiracy'' (1995). "Get Money," whose instrumental is fundamentally a sample of R&B singer Sylvia Striplin's 1981 ...

" on Big Beat/Atlantic Records. Big Beat label chief Craig Kallman is the judge in the video of the song, which then received numerous awards. Erykah Badu also covered the song on her 2010 track " Turn Me Away (Get MuNNY)," which appeared on the album ''

New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) ''New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)'' is the fifth studio album by American recording artist Erykah Badu, first released on March 30, 2010, through Universal Motown. Collaborating with several hip hop producers over the Internet, Badu c ...

''. "Give Me Your Love" was sampled by Armand Van Helden in "Full Moon" (featuring

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally ...

). Striplin' last known release was “Keep Pushing”.

Discography

* '' Give Me Your Love'' (Uno Melodic Records, 1981) * ''Keep Pushing'' (Rissa Crissa, 1982)

References

American soul singers 1954 births Living people City College of New York alumni {{US-R&B-singer-stub