Mickey & Sylvia
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Biography
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 nâ roll for a decade, capped by their hit single âLove Is Strangeâ.
The duo released a handful of singles before the release of âLove is Strangeâ in 1956. Written by Bo Diddley (although he credited it to his wife), Mickey & Sylviaâs 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 âOh, lover boyâ! bridge. Subsequent singles failed to register the chart impact of âLove Is Strangeâ, and the pair went through a series of splits and reunions, but the duoâs 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 âPillow Talkâ. 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.
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Albums
Top Tracks
- Track Popularity
- I'm Going Home by Mickey
- Love Is a Strange featuring Sylvia
- Rise Sally Rise
- Love Is Strange
- Forever and a Day
- No Good Lover by Mickey & Sylvia
- The Girls Against the Boys by Mickey & Sylvia
- Shake It Up
