From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Oct 15, 2002  1:24 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Mickey Baker
 
MICKEY BAKER (By Shaun Mather)

Born McHouston Baker, 15 October 1925, Louisville, Kentucky

Although he was one half of the sometimes brilliant duo, Mickey and Sylvia,
Mickey Baker left his biggest mark on the music world as one of the premier
session guitarists of the early rock 'n' roll period. Switching from jazz to
r&b was no hardship for the fluent style of Baker, and his forceful, biting
sound soon found him much session work. He was employed by the likes of
Atlantic, King, RCA, Decca, and OKeh and among many others he worked on
such classics as Money Honey and Such A Night for the Drifters, Shake Rattle
& Roll with Big Joe Turner, Big Maybelle's Whole Lot of Shakin' Goin' On and
Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean with Ruth Brown. (Not forgetting that
crazy one-note guitar solo on "I'm A Hog For You" by the Coasters - Dik)

His work with Sylvia Robinson is remembered mostly for the exotic Love Is
Strange, which climbed to number 11 in 1957. There were plenty of other
highlights though, No Good Lover being my favourite. They would often have a
mambo or latin feel mixed with r&b/r'n'r, with Baker all the while snapping
notes in the background. Following their split up, Baker recorded the
instrumental album The Wildest Guitar. He worked with Ike & Tina Turner
before moving to Paris where he has remained, rarely going into the studio.

Recommended listening:
LP The Wildest Guitar (Atlantic SD-8035), 1959.
Rock With A Sock (Bear Family BCD 15654). 28 tracks from 1952-1957.
Mickey and Sylvia, Love Is Strange (Bear Family BCD 15438). 2 CD-set
with their Rainbow, Groove, Vik and RCA Victor recordings.
Sylvia Robinson website: http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Sylvia%20Robinson.html