MUSIC: Sugarhill Gang are up for Christmas

IF YOU missed out on seeing the awesome Sugarhill Gang at this year’s Metropolis Festival, here’s your chance to catch them live in The Button Factory for their midnight show on Friday, December 23.

If you’re not already in the festive mood these guys will surely get the party started. 

The American legends have been the inspiration for numerous hip-hop artists over the course of the last three decades.

They were the first group to have a rap single in the Billboard Charts with their anthemic ‘Rappers Delight’ and have delighted audiences around the world ever since.

Reviewing their recent appearance at Metropolis Festival 2016 which was held in the RDS, Hot Press enthused: ‘The Sugarhill Gang lay down the law at Metropolis, drawing a huge crowd.

‘Master Gee sounds as good as ever, and the Gang have an arsenal of forgotten tracks from the ‘80s, which create an infectious party atmosphere’.

The members, all from Englewood, New Jersey, consist of Michael ‘Wonder Mike’ Wright, Henry ‘Big Bank Hank’ Jackson, and Guy ‘Master Gee’ O’Brien. The three were assembled into a group by producer Sylvia Robinson, who founded Sugarhill Records with her husband and record producer Joe Robinson.

The group and the record company are named after the Sugar Hill, Harlem, neighbourhood.

The Sugarhill Gang never had another US hit, though they had a slew of European successes with ‘Apache’, ‘8th Wonder’ (which was performed on the American music show Soul Train in 1981), ‘Rapper’s Reprise (Jam Jam)’, and ‘Showdown’ (with the Furious Five). In 1999, the trio reunited and recorded ‘Jump on It!’ a hip-hop children’s album.

Following the departure of Wonder Mike and Hendogg from Sugarhill Records in 2005, the original members of the Sugarhill Gang performed as the Original Sugar and as Rapper’s Delight featuring Wonder Mike and Master Gee,

On November 11, 2014, Big Bank Hank died at the age of 58 after a long battle with cancer.

In 2016, the remaining living members of the original Sugarhill Gang, including Wonder Mike, Hendogg and Master Gee embarked on their first world tour in over a decade under the name The Sugarhill Gang. They performed as the Sugarhill Gang for the Art of Rap and at the V Festival in Hylands Park and Weston Park in the UK as part of their 2016 world tour.