Jessie Mae Booker was born in Call, Texas, but was raised in Los Angeles where she started writing songs in her teens, and met and married Leonard Robinson.
[3] Among the R&B chart hits written by Robinson over the following few years were "In the Middle of the Night", "Roomin' House Boogie", and "Tears, Tears, Tears", all hits for Amos Milburn; "Sneakin' Around", by Rudy Render; "Blue Light Boogie" recorded by Louis Jordan in 1950; and Charles Brown's number one hit in 1951, "Black Night" and its follow-up "Seven Long Days".
[3] In 1952, Damita Jo recorded Robinson's song "I Went to Your Wedding", which was then covered more successfully by Patti Page, whose version went to number one on the pop chart, and by country star Hank Snow.
The song's success allowed Robinson to become "one of the few black songwriters to break the colour barrier",[4] and the first female African-American member of ASCAP.
[4] After her songwriting career ended, Robinson attempted to start small record labels in the 1960s with little success.