Mickey “Guitar” Baker, guitarist and writer of Mickey & Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange,” passed away on November 27, 2012 in Toulouse, France. He was 87 years old at the time of his passing.
Baker was born MacHouston Baker in Louisville, Kentucky. By the 1950s, he had become a top-ranking session musician, and his work was featured on thousands of records. Two of the most notable are the guitar riffs for Ike and Tina Turner’s “It’s Gonna Work out Fine” and Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”
Baker, along with Sylvia Vanderpool, recorded the song “Love Is Strange” in the 1950s; the song enjoyed a resurgence in 1987 after being featured in the film Dirty Dancing. Vanderpool passed away in 2011.
