Steven Soles

He was part of the highly-acclaimed HBO Showtime special, Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. This claim is attributed to the lyrics "I'm the C-A-S-S-N-O-V-A and the rest is F-L-Y " used by Big Bank Hank in the song, at the time Grandmaster Caz regularly referred to himself as "Cassanova Fly"; but the Sugarhill Gang's place in music history seems secure as the first hip hop group to have a Gold single. After the break up of The Alpha Band, Soles released two solo albums, Promise in 1980, and 1982's Walk by Love, and went on to produce or perform on albums by Dylan, Burnett, Peter Case, Elvis Costello, Roger McGuinn, Don McLean, The Monkees, The 77s, Olivia Newton-John, Roy Orbison, Tonio K, Victoria Williams and others. In addition, Grandmaster Caz from the Cold Crush Brothers claims that Sugarhill Gang member Big Bank Hank used his rhymes on Rapper's Delight. The band released three albums, The Alpha Band in 1977, Spark In The Dark in 1977, and The Statue Makers of Hollywood in 1978. The term "rap" is also claimed to be derrived from the title of this hit. When that tour ended, Soles and two other members of Dylan's band, T-Bone Burnett and David Mansfield, formed The Alpha Band. Some claim that "Rapper's Delight" is the first hip-hop single ever; it was actually preceded by "King Tim III" by the Fatback Band.

Steven Soles, Bob Dylan asked him to tour with his band on his 1975 "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour. They continue to tour. Known also as J. In 1999 (see 1999 in music), they reunited and recorded Jump on It, a hip hop children's album. Steven Soles is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and guitarist. The Sugarhill Gang never again topped the charts, though they had a few minor hits, such as "Apache," "Eighth Wonder," "Rapper's Reprise [Jam Jam]" and "Showdown" (with the Furious Five). The song was a #36 hit on the US pop chart and a #4 hit on the US R&B chart in 1979 (see 1979 in music), though hip-hop was dismissed as a brief fad.