The Sugarhill Gang

Release date

01 January 1970

If you are interested in booking The Sugarhill Gang, please contact one of our agents: info@international-artists.com

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The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop trio. Their 1979 hit “Rapper’s Delight” was the first rap single to become
a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. This was the trio’s only U.S. hit, though they did have further success in
Europe until the mid-1980s. The trio reformed in 1999 and did a world tour in 2016.

The members, all from Englewood, New Jersey, consisted 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 Sugar Hill Records with her husband, record producer Joe Robinson. The group and the
record company were named after the Sugar Hill, Harlem, neighborhood.

Their 1979 hit “Rapper’s Delight” was the first rap single to become a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The
group never had another U.S. hit, though it had multiple European hits, such as “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). The trio wound down over the next five years and disbanded in 1985.

In 1999, the trio reunited and recorded Jump on It! a hip hop children’s album.

After Wonder Mike and Hen Dogg left Sugarhill Records in 2005, the original members of Sugarhill Gang (besides
Jackson) have performed as the Original Sugar and as Rapper’s Delight Featuring Wonder Mike and Master Gee.
This is largely due to a string of legal cases against them regarding the use of ‘Sugarhill Gang’ as their name.

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, Hen Dogg and
Master Gee embarked on their first world tour in over a decade under the name The Sugarhill Gang. During this,
they performed as the Sugarhill Gang for the Art of Rap festival tour in 2016, and at V Festival in Hylands Park and
Weston Park in the UK as part of their world tour in 2016. Other places included, the Clockenflap Festival in Hong
Kong on November 27, 2016, and they headlined at the Depot in the Park Festival in Cardiff, United Kingdom on
August 5, 2017. In July 2019 they played the North Nibley Festival in Gloucestershire.

In 2019, The Sugarhill Gang celebrated the 40th anniversary of the release of “Rapper’s Delight” and the group’s
formation. They’re going on a worldwide tour called Rapper’s Delight 40th Anniversary World Tour. The gang
made new music in early 2019. The tour is still continuing to this day despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

On October 25, 2019, the group performed “Rapper’s Delight” on Jimmy Kimmel Live.