The first couple of pop and soul, and one very big night in 1977

When Questlove called Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo “the first couple of Pop and Soul”, he was describing a partnership that had already lasted decades. Davis, born in St. Louis in 1938, joined a group then called The Versatiles in 1966. It soon became the 5th Dimension.

The group's first big hit came in 1967 with “Up, Up and Away”, written by Jimmy Webb, which won four Grammy Awards in 1968. A year later they recorded “Stoned Soul Picnic”, and then came a medley of “Aquarius” and “Let the Sunshine In” from the musical Hair. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1969 and won Record of the Year at the Grammys. Davis and McCoo married that same year.

In 1975 the two left the 5th Dimension to work as a duo. A contract with ABC Records followed, and their 1976 debut album took its title from the moderately successful first single, “I Hope We Get to Love in Time”. The follow-up was the one that mattered: “You Don't Have to Be a Star (to Be in My Show)” went to number one in January 1977 and earned a gold single, a gold album and a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The same year they became the first African-American married couple to host a network television series, on CBS.

The partnership never really ended. Their album Marilyn and Billy included “Saving All My Love for You”, which Whitney Houston later turned into a number one hit. In 2020 they released Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons, their first new album in 30 years, recorded during the pandemic and framed by the duo as a message about people coming together in hard times.

They also appeared in Questlove's documentary Summer of Soul, reflecting on the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. Married since July 1969, Davis and McCoo remain a rare thing in popular music: a love story that sounds just like their records.