Contact
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors, please let us know by contacting us:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)
Artist: Mickey & Sylvia
Author: Ethel Smith
Label: Groove
Year: 1956
N°2 R&B. Studio guitarist Mickey Baker and future Sugar Hill record label boss Sylvia Robinson.
Covers:
Chubby Checker [as The Love Is Strange Calypso]
Dave Baby Cortez [as Rinky Dink and as Mosin' Along]
Booker T. & The MG's [as Rinky Dink]
Mickey et Monique [as L'amour est étrange; Mickey Baker in France]
Caesar & Cleo [alias Sonny & Cher]
Avalons [as L'amour c'est un jeu]
Jackson Browne & David Lindley [title track live cd]
Pitbull [sample in Back In Time; hit Fr, GER, B, US, UK & NL]
Written by Bo Diddley under his wife Ethel's name. The Chess archive finally released Bo's demo in 2007: cd I'm A Man: The Chess Masters 1955-1958 (Hip-O Select). His version of Love Is Strange lacks Jody Williams' guitar licks (from Billy Stewart's Billy's Blues - see there), copied by Mickey Baker in Mickey & Sylvia's hit version. Chess didn't like Bo's ballad ("Who do you think you are? Perry Como?"). Williams who had a crush on Sylvia, serenaded her with his Billy's Blues licks, impressing both her and Mickey Baker. But he wasn't credited and that did it, both for him and Chess: for four years the Chess brothers sued Mickey & Sylvia's Love Is Strange version unsuccessfully. As for Jody Williams, his faith in fair music business trade sank deeper than ever; Otis Rush had stolen some of his licks (see: All Your Love I Miss Loving) and now this.
If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors, please let us know by contacting us:
Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)