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50s Strollers Rhythm And Blues (Popcorn Oldies Beat) Unissued VIK Recordings - Recorded July 9,1958 at RCA Victor Studio B, New-York City with: McHouston “Mickey“ Baker (vocal/guitar) Sylvia Vanderpool, who later became Sylvia Robinson (vocal) George Barnes (electric guitar) Don Arnone (rhythm guitar) George Shaw (bass) “Stick“ Evans (drums) Phil Kraus (bongo / percussion) Ernest Hayes (piano) “King“ Curtis Ousley (saxophone) Sid Bass (leader) Eugene Lowell, Miriam Workman, Keith Booth, Eugene Stock, James Stover, Peggy Powers, Francine Carroll (chorus) Sylvia Robinson (born Vanderpool; May 29, 1935 – September 29, 2011) was an American singer, record producer, and record label executive. Robinson had two R&B chart toppers: as half of Mickey & Sylvia with “Love Is Strange“ in 1957 and her solo record “Pillow Talk“ in 1973. She later became known for her work as founder and CEO of the hip hop label Sugar Hill Records. Robinson is credited as the driving force behind two landmark singles in the hip hop genre; “Rapper's Delight“ (1979) by the Sugarhill Gang, and “The Message“ (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five; which caused her to be dubbed “The Mother of Hip–Hop“. Robinson received a Pioneer Award for her career in singing and being the founder of Sugarhill Records at the 11th Annual Rhythm and Blues Awards Gala in 2000. Of all the guitarists who helped transform rhythm & blues into rock & roll, Mickey Baker was one of the very most important, ranking almost on the level of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. The reason he wasn't nearly as well known as those legends is that a great deal of his work wasn't issued under his own name, but as a backing guitarist for much R&B and Rock & Roll musicians. Baker originally aspired to be a jazz musician, but turned to calypso, mambo, and then R&B, where the most work could be found. In the early and mid-'50s, he did countless sessions for Atlantic, King, RCA, Decca, and OKeh, playing on such classics as the Drifters' “Money Honey“ and “Such a Night,“ Joe Turner's “Shake, Rattle & Roll,“ Ruth Brown's “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean,“ and Big Maybelle's “Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On“ . He also released a few singles under his own name, and made a Latin jazz-tinged solo album, Guitar Mambo. The Wildest Guitar Baker's best work, though, was recorded as half of the duo Mickey & Sylvia. Their hit “Love Is Strange,“ as well as several other unknown but nearly equally strong tracks, featured Baker's keening, bluesy guitar riffs, which were gutsier and more piercing than most anything else around in the late '50s. Mickey & Sylvia split in the late '50s (though they recorded off and on until the middle of the next decade), and Baker recorded his best solo album, the all-instrumental The Wildest Guitar. In 1961, he took the male spoken part (usually assumed to be Ike Turner) on Ike & Tina Turner's first hit, “It's Gonna Work Out Fine.“ Shortly afterward he moved to France, making a few hard-to-find solo records and working with a lot of French pop and rock performers, including Ronnie Bird, the best '60s French rock singer. He recorded only sporadically after the mid-'60s. Mickey Baker died at his home in Montastruc-la-Conseillère, France on November 27, 2012, at the age of 87. #rhythmandblues #soulmusic #guitarist
