Mickey & Sylvia (Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderpool) began their musical relationship as teacher and student. Baker, a respected and prolific session player and instructor, saw an opportunity for the two to team up as a guitar and vocal duo, a la Les Paul & Mary Ford. The two successfully blended R&B with early rock n’ roll for a decade, capped by their hit single “Love Is Strange”.

The duo released a handful of singles before the release of “Love is Strange” in 1956. Written by Bo Diddley (although he credited it to his wife), Mickey & Sylvia’s version hit Number 1 on the R&B charts the next year, and was highlighted by the playful banter between the two on its oft-quoted “Oh, lover boy”! bridge. Subsequent singles failed to register the chart impact of “Love Is Strange”, and the pair went through a series of splits and reunions, but the duo’s clever interplay and instrumental acumen remained intact until the two formally went their separate ways in 1965.

Baker quickly decamped to France, where he continued his music career and released numerous records before his death in 2012. Sylvia married Joe Robinson, took his last name, and released four solo albums in the 1970s. She landed a Number 3 hit in 1973 with the suggestive soul single “Pillow Talk”. The Robinsons then founded Sugar Hill Records, which went on to massive success and tremendous cultural influence as the first home of hip-hop originators the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. She died in 2011.

Mickey & Sylvia

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