Vicki Sue Robinson, Viola Wills, Cinema - The Lost Tapes (2015)

Vicki Sue Robinson:
Vickie Robinson turned the disco and pop music world upside down with her rousing 1976 Top Ten Pop smash "Turn the Beat Around." A strong, vibrant vocalist, Robinson's records were among some of the best produced and arranged '70s disco releases, with solid beats built on solid songs.
Born in Harlem in 1955, Robinson's birth was the result of a union between a Black actor and white folk singer. Her professional debut was at the Philadelphia Folk Festival when she was six. Her eclectic heritage was also reflected in her wide-ranging love of different types of music performers. As a teenager, Robinson appeared in the Broadway hit Hair, and having been discovered by Robert Stigwood (RSO Records, Bee Gees), she joined the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar. Her varied career included stints as a model, actor, waitress, and recording with Japanese artists Sadistic Mika Band and Itsuru Shimoda, as well as a job with Ms. magazine.
Signed to RCA Records in the mid-'70s by producer Warren Schatz, Robinson released four albums for the label: Never Gonna Let You Go (1976), Vicki Sue Robinson (1976), Half & Half (1978), and Movin' On (1979). "Turn the Beat Around," written by Pete and Gerald Jackson, reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the summer of 1976, earning Robinson a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female. Her other favorites include her cover of Bobby Womack's "Daylight" and "Hold Tight."
Decades after her music career peaked, Robinson starred in her own 1999 off-Broadway play, Vicki Sue Robinson: Behind the Beat. The play was a continuation of her popular, enticing cabaret show. On April 27, 2000, at the age of 45, Robinson died of cancer at her Wilton, Connecticut home.

Viola Wills:
A pre-stardom Barry White began using singer Viola Wills as a session vocalist on sides that he produced for Bob Keane's Bronco/Mustang labels. In the mid-'60s, Keane -- known for hits by Ritchie Valens, the Bobby Fuller Four, and Johnny Crawford of ABC-TV's hit western The Rifleman -- wanted to expand into soul music. In 1965, A&R director White signed Wills to Bronco as a solo artist. She recorded several sides for the label; all failed to chart. In 1969, she recorded a single for the A Bem Soul label that also failed to hit. In 1974, she replaced backup vocalist Claudia Linnear on Joe Cocker's European tour. While in the U.K., Wills recorded for Goodear. Three years later, she signed with Arista Records.
In 1979, while signed to the Ariola/Hansa label, Wills enjoyed her biggest hit with a disco version of Patience and Prudence's 1957 hit "Gonna Get Along Without You." Recording in an uptempo dance Hi-NRG style, Wills scored dancefloor hits with "If You Could Read My Mind" and "Up on the Roof." Wills had a Top 40 U.K. hit with the double-sided hit "Both Sides Now" and "Dare to Dream" on the Wide Angle label.
One of her Bronco singles played an integral part in a number one R&B smash. In the mid-'70s, while working on material for the next Love Unlimited album, group member Glodean James suggested to producer Barry White that he use the piano introduction from Wills' "Lost Without the Love of My Guy" on a new song. At first resistant to the idea because he didn't want to repeat himself, White relented. He reused the piano chord progression from "Lost Without the Love of My Guy" on "I Belong to You." The majestic ballad went to number one R&B in late 1974. It was included on the album In Heat and on Best of Love Unlimited.
Though Wills hasn't had a mainstream U.S. hit to date, her singles are popular in dance clubs and a number of her recordings are floating around, including "No News Is News," "House Is Not a Home," "If You Could Read My Mind," "Let's Love Now," "Take One Step Forward" (by Wills and Noel McCalla), and "Always Something There to Remind Me."