13 Facts About Cynthia Robinson

1.

Cynthia Robinson was an American musician, best known for being a founding member, the trumpeter and a vocalist in Sly and the Family Stone.

2.

Cynthia Robinson was among the first female trumpeters in a major American band, and the first such player in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

3.

Cynthia Robinson was the only member of the original Family Stone to continue working with Sly Stone after the band fell apart in 1975.

4.

Cynthia Robinson played in the funk band Graham Central Station with Family Stone bandmate and cousin Larry Graham, starting in the 1990s.

5.

Cynthia Robinson lived in Oak Park, a neighborhood in Sacramento.

6.

Cynthia Robinson played flute in elementary school, but there were no flutes available at her high school, and she was told to play the clarinet.

7.

Cynthia Robinson attended Sacramento High School where she played trumpet in the school band.

8.

Cynthia Robinson was taunted by the boys in her band class for being a black girl playing a "white boy's instrument".

9.

Cynthia Robinson even recalled teachers suggesting she take up a different activity and save the trumpet for the boys, but Cynthia Robinson was in love with the trumpet.

10.

Cynthia Robinson was a founding member of Sly and the Family Stone, starting in 1966.

11.

Cynthia Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Sly and the Family Stone.

12.

On November 23,2015 Cynthia Robinson died of cancer in Carmichael, California at the age of 71.

13.

Cynthia Robinson was the mother of two daughters: Laura Marie Cook and Sylvyette Phunne Cynthia Robinson.