Floyd Robinson born August 10, 1932

Floyd Eugene Robinson (August 10, 1932 – May 28, 2016) was an American singer, born in Nashville, Tennessee, who was briefly successful in the late 1950s.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Floyd Robinson decided that a career in music would be his life. He was barely in his teens when he formed his first band, called the Eagle Rangers. They performed at pre-teen hops, school functions, parties and local radio programs. While he was in high school, Robinson had a regular radio show on Nashville's WLAC and WSM radio. And in between shows, Floyd and his Rangers served as the back-up band for country music singers on tour, among them George Jones, Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold and Little Jimmy Dickens. The band also appeared on the Grand Ole Opry.

According to some sources, Floyd was one half of the bluegrass duo Jack and Daniel (Autry Inman and Floyd Robinson), who recorded for Decca in the early fifties. In 1958, Robinson wrote a novelty song called "The Little Space Girl" for his cousin Jesse Lee Turner, who scored his only hit (# 20 in early 1959) with this extra-terrestrial tune. Smash hits like David Seville's "Witch Doctor" and Sheb Wooley's "Purple People Eater" had created a huge demand for sped-up novelties, so RCA Victor approached Robinson and asked if he had more funny songs. Floyd came up with "My Girl" , a story about a strange dude with an emotionally damaged girlfriend. 

                                       

He was signed by RCA and rushed into their Nashville studio to record the song, under the supervision of Chet Atkins. However, disc jockeys soon discovered that the other side, "Makin' Love" was a much better song and Floyd made the charts for the first and only time. "Makin' Love" peaked at # 20 in September 1959 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The track reached No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart the same year. It also did well in several European countries, spawning local cover versions in French ("T' Aimer Follement"), Spanish ("Locamente Te Amare"), Italian, German and Dutch.

RCA released eight singles and one LP (simply titled "Floyd Robinson", RCA LPM 2162) by Floyd, but there were no further hits. He continued throughout the 1960s in the same teen-oriented vein for such labels as Jamie, Dot, Groove and United Artists, but all to no avail. Floyd worked as an engineer on Duane Eddy sessions in the mid-1960s. In 1971 and 1975 he recorded two duet singles with his cousin Jesse Lee Turner (who recorded at least seven of Floyd's compositions).

In 1973, Floyd became the inventor of "Christian animal music". Directed by the Holy Spirit and inspired by David Seville's Chipmunks, he recorded and released at least fourteen LP's of children's evangelical music, with such titles as "Charlie the Hamster Teaches Bible Stories With Floyd Robinson" and "Charlie the Hamster Sings the Ten Commandments With Floyd Robinson". In 1977, Robinson was sued by the lawyer son of the late David Seville, Ross Bagdasarian Jr., for plagiarism and copyright infringement. The matter was settled out of court, but meant the end of Robinson's animal records.

In the 1990's Robinson self-published two books, the instruction manual "Guitar Playing Msde Easy" (1992) and the novel "The Guitar" (1994). He owned a used car dealership, but remained active in the music industry. Robinson died on May 28, 2016, in Hendersonville, Tennessee, after a long illness, at age 83.