Legendary Harlem Record Shop Owner, Bobby Robinson, Dies

Harlem legend dead Bobby Robinson, owner of Happy House on 125th St.. BOBBY
ROBINSON, whose tiny record shop on Harlem 's 125th St. spawned No. 1
national hits and made him an uptown patriarch for six decades, died
yesterday. He was 93 and had been ill for several years - though he
regularly went to work at his shop until it was forced to close in January
2008. Impeccably dressed, well-spoken and ambitious to make his mark in the
entertainment business, Robinson opened Bobby's Happy House in 1946. His
shop was the first black-owned business on 125th St., and within five years
he used it to launch a series of record labels. Sometimes working with his
brother Danny, who also had an office on 125th St., Robinson recorded
hundreds of artists from Gladys Knight and the Pips to Grandmaster Flash
and the Furious Five. Knight's first hit, "Every Beat of My Heart," was
released on Robinson's Fury label. Robinson, a South Carolina native, had
a No. 1 national hit in 1959 with Wilbert Harrison 's " Kansas City " - and
said years later that a hit of that magnitude crippled his business because
he had to press so many copies he couldn't promote any other artists. But
his Red Robin, Whirlin' Disc, Fire, Fury and Enjoy labels became legendary
in the rhythm and blues world, and his releases by artists like the
Channels, Teenchords and Scarlets helped define the sound of the New York
streets through the 1950s. Robinson ultimately recorded a wide range of
artists that included the great bluesman Elmore James , whom Robinson
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . In the late 1970s, Robinson
became one of the first label owners to record rap music, cutting artists
like Flash, Doug E. Fresh and Spoonie Gee. Robinson eventually had to move
the shop around the corner in the late 1990s, and he closed for good on Jan.
21, 2008, when his new landlord decided to raze the building for a
development. I've seen 125th St. at its best and worst," Robinson said in
late 2007. And I'll tell you, there's no more exciting place in the world."