Gwendolyn Chisolm

Beginnings of Blondy: Born as Gwendolyn Chisolm in Columbia, South Carolina on October 20th. Exactly twenty years later, on the same date as her birth, Blondy and her all-girl hip hop trio known as "The Sequence" were discovered by Sylvia Robinson, CEO of noted hip hop label, Sugar Hill Records. Seizing a great opportunity, Blondy and her childhood friends, Cheryl "Cheryl The Pearl" Cook and Angie "Angie B" Brown, a.k.a. Angie Stone asked Robinson for a chance to audition backstage at a Sugar Hill Gang concert in their hometown, Columbia. After being signed by Sugar Hill's record label in 1979, The Sequence's popular single "Funk You Up" went gold within only three weeks. "Funk You Up" was the first rap record released by a female group and the second single released by Sugar Hill Records, not only making a statement, but making a mark in history, hence paving the way for future hip hop female artists, and as the first all-girl rap group signed to a label, and the first female rap group out of South Carolina.