Mickey & Sylvia

Mickey & Sylvia was an American R&B duo,^[1] composed of Mickey Baker and Sylvia Vanderpool, who later became Sylvia Robinson. They were the first big seller for Groove Records.^[2]

Mickey was a music instructor and Sylvia one of his pupils. Baker was inspired to form the group by the success of Les Paul & Mary Ford. They had a Top 20 hit with “Love Is Strange” in 1956, which sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.^[3] The duo eventually bought their own nightclub, established a publishing company, and formed their own record label. Although Mickey & Sylvia disbanded by the end of the 1950s, they continued to record together on an infrequent basis until 1965, when Mickey quit the music industry in the United States.

The reasons for the disbandment have not been made entirely clear. Some sources have chronicled that Baker tired of life on the road and other aspects of the commercial music business. Others say that Baker was angered by the increasing highly-publicized racial tensions between blacks and whites in the southern United States at around this time.

Mickey had a successful career as a session musician before moving to Paris, France, where he remained for the rest of his life. Sylvia had a hit record in 1973 with “Pillow Talk,” and later assisted in the formation of the Sugar Hill rap label. Sylvia died in 2011 and Mickey died in 2012. Mickey wrote the very well known guitar instruction series, the Mickey Baker Jazz Books.

 

“Love Is Strange,” their only song to chart in the top 15, debuted with the new year on the Cashbox top 40 on January 5, 1957.  It stayed on the chart until September of that year, reaching the highest spot of number 11 during the summer.