Soul Strutter: Sylvia v Janet Jackson

Saturday 10 December 2022

Sylvia v Janet Jackson - Pillow Talk

An unreleased demo recording by Janet Jackson,of a cover of Sylvia Robinson's 1973 R&B #1 R&B hit "Pillow Talk", is being released as her next single.

It was played by DJ Questlove on Questlove's IG Live few years ago (May 2020) from unreleased Damita Jo sessions in 2003 You can listen to the original broadcast @58:34 HERE.

Sylvia Robinson, who owned the All Platinum group of labels and was part of duo Mickey & Sylvia in the late 50s, wrote the song with Michael Burton and had hoped that Al Green would record it but when he turned it down she decided to come out of singing retirement to record it herself in 1973. The orgasmic moans included predates the sexual moaning of Donna Summer on her disco hit "Love To Love You Baby" by two years. It hit the top of the R&B chart for two weeks, reaching #3 on the Hot 100, and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance losing to Aretha Franklin (Master Of Eyes (The Deepness Of Your Eyes)).

Another, more disco oriented version, was released by Canadian singer Tanya Jackson in 1983 on 12".

However, as ever, the UK rare soul scene flipped it for the B side "My Thing" which was originally recorded by The Whatnauts as an album track on their debut "Reaching For The Stars" in 1971, followed by The Moments as title track to an album and as a single in 1972 and then Sylvia's version on the flip to "Pillow Talk" but she had released a different take earlier in 1972 on Stang 5026 which seems to be hard to find. The Chosen Few also did a reggae take of it on their album "I Love The Way You Love" in 1975.

Michael Burton released a version of "Love On A Two Way Street" on Turbo in 1972 and then went on to form Brother To Brother who did a cover of Gil Scott-Herons "The Bottle" in 1974, also on Turbo.

Sylvia (nee Vanderpool) recorded as Little Sylvia from 1950 and the teamed up with Mickey (MacHouston) Baker as Mickey & Sylvia and had a smash hit with a Bo Diddley song "Love Is Strange" in 1957 with Diddley's blessing after sharing the bill with him at a show in Washington D.C. When they spit in 1958 she recorded using the name Sylvia Robbins, presumably a shortening of her married name Robinson after she married Joseph Robinson in 1959. In 1961 she got back with Baker releasing more singles under the name Mickey & Sylvia. They both featured on Ike & Tina Turner's first Grammy nominated song "It's Gonna Work Out Fine", Mickey provided vocals and Sylvia played guitar, so where is Ike Turner on this track you may ask?

By 1966 the Robinsons moved to New Jersey and set up All Platinum Records which included subsidiary label Stang, Turbo and Vibration. They later formed Sugar Hill Records in the 70s (with the financial backing of Roulette Record's Morris Levy) and introduced rap to the world via one of the first commercially successful rap songs, "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugar Hill Gang, in 1979. You may or may not be aware that a female trio called The Sequence, who featured on the label, included a teenaged Angie Stone (Angela Brown) who at that time went by the name Angie B. The label folded in 1985.

Robinson died from heart failure in Sep 2011 aged 76 and only this year (2022) was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame as a non-performer.