Sylvia Striplin was a New York-based jazz, soul, and R&B vocalist.
Sylvia was the youngest of five children. After a fire destroyed their home in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem, the family moved to the North Bronx in New York - there Sylvia honed her craft. Sylvia loved singing. She made up songs on the family piano and sang them around the house. She took piano lessons during her grade school years and performed in recitals. She began singing professionally with neighborhood friends Gus Falcon and Malcolm Ballinger as a teenager. After high school, Sylvia attended the City College of New York in Harlem where she was praised for her performance in the College's production of Anything Goes.
During the 1970s, Sylvia found work as a backup singer. In the late 1970s she auditioned for the role of Dorothy in The Wiz and was selected as the second understudy with the New York Company. She was eventually selected to play Dorothy in the road company production, which traveled to Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities, receiving excellent reviews along the way.