Mickey Baker Dies

R.I.P. Influential Rock and Blues Guitarist Mickey Baker of Mickey & Sylvia

Mickey Baker, guitarist for the duo Mickey & Sylvia, died of heart and kidney failure on Tuesday at his home in France, The New York Times reports. He was 87 years old. Baker developed a genre-bending style of guitar playing that was influential to many guitarists of the next generation, including Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, and Pete Townshend.
You might be most familiar with Mickey & Sylvia because of the movie Dirty Dancing, which featured the duo's hit single "Love Is Strange". The song was originally recorded in 1956, but is still well known: Pitbull sampled it on his current hit "Back in Time". Sylvia, born Sylvia Vanderpool, eventually took on her married name of Sylvia Robinson. After Mickey & Sylvia split in the late 1950s, Robinson went on to become "the mother of hip-hop," co-founding Sugar Hill Records and masterminding the Sugar Hill Gang.
Baker was also a prolific session musician, recording with Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, the Drifters, and many others. In addition to his work in rock and blues, he also studied with the composer Iannis Xenakis and wrote classical music pieces.