Dazzling Duets By Dynamic Duos: Pre-1980

I have to admit that I don't feel nearly as excited about this set of songs as I did about the previous three. Partly, it's because most of the songs are "before my time." And partly because, well, I like the '80s and '90s songs just a little bit better. But I gave it my best effort with these, and I do believe I came up with quite a few good ones. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Elton John & Kiki Dee  ~  "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"  (This feels like an '80s song, which may explain why I like it so much. Sure, it's cheesy as all-get-out, but it's still a nice tune.)

2)  Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong  ~  "Dream A Little Dream Of Me"  (I LOVE this! Louis Armstrong has always been one of my favorites, especially among jazz artists. This classic duet with Ella has not aged a bit since it was recorded some 60+ years ago.)

3)  Betty Hutton & Howard Keel  ~  "Anything You Can Do"  (Nice battle-of-the-sexes kinda song – I believe it's from the musical Annie Get Your Gun, if memory serves me.)

4)  George Jones & Tammy Wynette  ~  "Golden Ring"  (Well, this is awkward... George & Tammy had not been too long divorced when they paired up again to sing this song about...marriage. It's a classic, though!)

5)  John Denver & Karen Carpenter  ~  "Comin' Thro' The Rye / Good Vibrations (Medley)"  (I had no idea two of my favorite easy-listening artists ever did a duet. It wasn't necessarily a big hit or anything, and actually appears to be a clip from a Carpenters television special. But the novelty of it, and their paired voices of course, makes it worth a listen.)

6)  Doris Day & Gordon MacRae  ~  "By The Light Of The Silvery Moon"  (Fair warning: You're going to be seeing quite a bit of Gordon MacRae in this post. Here he teams up with Doris Day in a scene from a movie which shares the title of this song.)

7)  John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John  ~  "You're The One That I Want"  (Oh, come on! You knew THIS song would be here, didn't you? Several folks suggested it, but I've gotta dedicate this one to my wife Mary, as Grease is another of her all-time favorite movies.)

8)  Marni Nixon & Rex Harrison  ~  "Without You"  (Hate to break it to you, but that is not Audrey Hepburn singing. It's the voice of Marni Nixon, professional "ghost singer," that you hear. That being said, it's a great tune from an even better movie!)

9)  Patti Page & Jo Stafford  ~  "Accentuate The Positive"  (This isn't an all-time great duet or anything – in fact, it's probably a one-off pairing from a Patti Page TV special – but it does feature two great singers from the 1950s [or thereabouts], and the song itself was pretty popular as well.)

10)  Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand  ~  "You Don't Bring Me Flowers"  (I like this one a lot, too. The stark contrasts between Neil's and Barbra's voices really make this one work, especially considering the subject of the song.)

11)  Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell  ~  "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"  (These two had quite a few #1 hits as a duo, but I only picked one – mainly because there aren't too many high-quality videos of them singing to be found out there in YouTubeLand.)

12)   Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers  ~  "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"  (This is a wonderful song, truly an all-time great, but really...who says, "Puh-TOT-oh"? Come on!)

13)  Shirley Jones & Gordon MacRae  ~  "People Will Say We're In Love"  (Apparently, audiences just couldn't get enough of Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae in the mid-'50s. Here they teamed up in the film version of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma!)

14)  Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty  ~  "After The Fire Is Gone"  (Here's another classic country-music duo who had any number of songs to choose from. Again, I just picked one – mostly because this was one of their best-known duets.)

15)  Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway  ~  "Where Is The Love?"  (Due to Donny's death – an apparent suicide at the height of his career – there are few extant videos of him singing, much less him singing with frequent duet partner [and much more well-known singer] Roberta Flack. So this one's only audio – but honestly, do you care? It's a gem!)

16)  Topol & Norma Crane  ~  "Do You Love Me?"  (From the musical Fiddler On The Roof, there's this neat little husband/wife duet [in the film, at least].)

17)  Michael Jackson & Diana Ross  ~  "Ease On Down The Road"  (I was peripherally aware that this song existed before researching for this post, but I had no idea either who sung it or that it originated from the 1970s The Wizard Of Oz musical adaption called The Wiz.)

18)  Marni Nixon & Betty Wand  ~  "A Boy Like That / I Have A Love"  (The actresses you see here are Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno, but that's not them singing. Sorry to bust your bubble again! Good duet from West Side Story nonetheless, though.)

19)  Olivia Newton-John & Cliff Richard  ~  "Suddenly"  (Here's another one that really feels like an '80s song, but precedes that decade by about 2 years. The song is from the movie Xanadu, which starred Olivia, but I think this might just be a promotional music video and not an actual movie clip.)

20)  Julie Andrews & Christopher Plummer  ~  "Something Good"  (This all-too-brief duet from the stars of The Sound Of Music is still one of the more memorable songs in one of my favorite musicals.)

21)  Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra  ~  "Some Velvet Morning"  (This is one of those I-never-would-have-heard-of-this-if-not-for-resarching-for-this-post kind of songs. But it's a pretty good one!)

22)  Glen Campbell & John Denver  ~  "Don't It Make You Want To Go Home?"  (John Denver is like Kenny Rogers, in that he would – and did – sound good alongside any other capable singer. Glen Campbell is more than capable, though, so this is a really nice duet.)

23)  Shirley Jones & Gordon MacRae ~   "If I Loved You"  (It's Shirley and Gordon again, this time in the musical Carousel.)

24)  Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton  ~  "Just Someone I Used To Know"      (These two teamed up quite a few times on songs, both on recordings and on Porter's television show. This is one of their more well-known duets.)

25)  Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge  ~  "Help Me Make It Through The Night"  (My parents had a 45 record of this song, albeit by another artist, which I used to listen to quite a bit when I was younger – so I know this song well. I like this version even better than the one I listened to way back when.)

Dazzling Duets By Dynamic Duos: The 1980s

You asked for it, and here it is! The '80s are probably the 2nd best decade for classic duets – or the best, depending on whom you ask. Did I include all your favorites? If not, which song(s) did I miss? Either way...enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton  ~  "Islands In The Stream"  (This is one of the most quintessential country music duets of all time – and there are plenty to choose from. I dare you to listen to this and not be humming it quietly to yourself an hour later.) 

2)  Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville  ~  "Don't Know Much"  (Her honey-throated vocals, his Human AutoTune skills…I don't know much, but I know I love this song!)

3)  Willie Nelson & Julio Iglesias  ~  "To All The Girls I've Loved Before"  (Who would have ever thought it was a good idea to pair the twangy, nasally voice of Willie Nelson with the silky-smooth, Latin-inflected vocals of Julio Iglesias? Willie, that's who! The man is a genius!)

4)  Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson  ~  "Say Say Say"  (This is an overlooked classic. It's also an early example of how Michael Jackson's music videos would soon push the format beyond merely a visual performance of the song and branch out into storytelling…with a built-in soundtrack.)

5)  Peter Cetera & Amy Grant  ~  "The Next Time I Fall"  (I heard and liked this song for years before I knew the female vocalist was Amy Grant. I guess I wouldn't have expected to hear her alongside the lead singer of Chicago. But the pairing was practically perfect, because it's a great song!)

6)  Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes  ~  "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life"  (This is for you, Mary Hill, because you love Dirty Dancing – the movie from which this song originates – even though I think it's kind of cheesy, and really it probably is, but you don't care because it's one of your all-time favorites.)

7)  Cliff Richard & Sarah Brightman  ~  "All I Ask Of You"  (Anywhere you go, let me go too! Great song by a couple of talented folks!)

8)  Aretha Franklin & George Michael  ~  "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)"  (It doesn't get much more '80s than this! Two soulful singers that, not surprisingly, sound great together!)

9)  Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes  ~  "Up Where We Belong"  (This is another essential '80s classic. Joe really gets into it in this live performance, too.)

10)  Kenny Rogers & Sheena Easton  ~  "We've Got Tonight"  (Ladies and gentlemen, Kenny Rogers. The king of the '80s duets. This is the second of what will be three classic pairings in this post alone.)

11)  Phil Collins & Philip Bailey  ~  "Easy Lover"  (Two guys named Phil – one from Genesis and the other from Earth, Wind, & Fire – got together and made a song for the ages. Well, at least a song for the '80s. Still holds up nicely today, though.)

12)  Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram  ~  "Somewhere Out There"  (If you ever watched An American Tail when you were growing up – as I did countless times – you probably cringed at the squeaky, "pitchy" vocals of the two young voice actors who sang this song during the film. Then you probably perked up and sang right along when these two, much-more-highly-polished singers sang the same song during the closing credits. I bet you can still sing along now, too. Go ahead – try it.)

13)  Ozzy Osbourne & Lita Ford  ~  "Close My Eyes Forever"  (This one is for my metalhead friends and relatives. No, it's not technically a metal song – it's more of a power ballad. But it's Ozzy. And Lita. And it's probably the closest thing you're going to get in any entry of this series. So there – I'm throwing you a bone. You're welcome.)

14)  Lionel Richie & Diana Ross  ~  "Endless Love"  (I know, I know – I posted this song in the last entry, with Luther and Mariah doing the honors. But this is the original. And it's every bit as good for many of the same reasons. Maybe you are a music purist and you insist on originals only, and you like this one better. Again, you're welcome.)

15)  Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush  ~  "Don't Give Up"  (In researching this series, this song kept popping up in searches. Then someone suggested it on Facebook. I had never heard of it before. It's good, and it definitely belongs here. But why are they hugging for the entire duration of the video? Why ask why?)

16)  Eddie Rabbitt & Crystal Gayle  ~  "You & I"  (I grew up on 1980s country music, even more so than mainstream pop music of the era. This song was a mainstay of country radio for several years, and for good reason. It's a classic love song duet that really transcends the genre from which it originates.)

17)  Stevie Wonder & Paul McCartney  ~  "Ebony & Ivory"  (Living in perfect harmony! Why can't we all just get along, for realz?)

18)  Queen & David Bowie  ~  "Under Pressure"  (This is one of those intentional rule-breakers I was referring to the other day. Yes, it's a duet between a band and an individual artist. And yes, it counts. Just listen to that bass line!)

19)  Peter Cetera & Cher  ~  "After All"  (I have heard this song a thousand times and never knew, until writing this post, that it was a duet between Peter and Cher. I think I just thought it was a Chicago song. That being said, it's a pretty darn good duet!)

20)  Kenny Rogers & Kim Carnes  ~  "Don't Fall In Love With A Dreamer"  (And we're back to Kenny again. Here he shares some words of wisdom about the perils of becoming enamored with an idealist.)

21)  Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald  ~  "On My Own"  (This one is just for you, Daniel, since you're such a huge fan of Michael McDonald! You are SO welcome!)

22)  Aerosmith & RUN-DMC  ~  "Walk This Way"  (Another odd pairing that ended up being an all-time classic! And the video is totally RAD, too!)

23)  Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers  ~  "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"  (Here's another golden oldie I'd forgotten existed until researching for this post.)

24)  Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb  ~  "Guilty"  (Barbra ain't half bad when it comes to duets, either. And I think that B.G. fella has had a bit of success when singing with his brothers, but I could be wrong.)

25)  Mike Reno & Ann Wilson  ~  "Almost Paradise… Love Theme From Footloose"  (I'd heard this awesome song a gajillion times before I finally found out who sang it. For those of you not in the know, as I was not, Mike Reno was the lead singer for the band Loverboy and Ann Wilson was the lead singer for Heart – both major '80s bands in their own right.)

Dazzling Duets By Dynamic Duos: The 1990s

Here's part 2 in a 4-part series featuring classic duets. These songs are all from the 1990s, which may very well be the best decade in history for duets – in my opinion, at least. How many of these do you remember fondly?  ~  JH

1)  Tim McGraw & Faith Hill  ~  "It's Your Love"  (Something about a love song sung by real-life lovers – a husband and wife, in fact – makes it all the more…lovey-dovey? Maybe so, maybe not. But this is a cute song either way.)

2)  Céline Dion & Andrea Bocelli  ~  "The Prayer"  (It doesn't get much more powerhouse than this. Great song by two all-time greats.)

3)  Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey  ~  "Endless Love"  (This rendition and the Lionel Richie/Diana Ross version are both outstanding. Instead of choosing between one or the other, I decided to include them both. The original song will appear in the '80s edition of this series.)

4)  Brandy & Monica  ~  "The Boy Is Mine"  (Catty? Oh, yes! Enjoyable? Absolutely!)

5)  John Mellencamp & Me'Shell Ndegeocello  ~  "Wild Night"  (This song brings back some memories. Why? Because MTV played the crap out of it back in '94 or '95. And for good reason – it's a fun song!)

6)  Reba McEntire & Vince Gill  ~  "The Heart Won't Lie"  (I can't remember whether someone suggested this song, or if I just found it. Either way, it's a good one.)

7)  Nat King Cole & Natalie Cole  ~  "Unforgettable"  (Ah, the power of technology! Natalie Cole sang this iconic duet with her father who, at the time, had been dead for a quarter of a century. And she won three Grammys for it, to boot!)

8)  Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey  ~  "When You Believe"  (Remember The Prince Of Egypt? That animated musical movie about the Exodus from the late '90s? Yeah, me neither. But I do remember this song from its soundtrack quite well.)

9)  Clint Black & Lisa Hartman Black  ~  "When I Said I Do"  (Here's another sweet love song by a real-life husband and wife. I wonder how many wedding ceremonies or vow renewals included a rendition of this song?)

10)  Anita Baker & James Ingram  ~  "When You Love Someone"  (I'm sure James Ingram has had a nice solo career, but I know him best for the classic duets he's a part of. This is one of those. Another classic duet of his will appear in the '80s post.)

11)  Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson  ~  "Scream"  (Stop pressurin' me! I'm trying to think of something original to say about this classic brother-sister duet.)

12)  Barbra Streisand & Bryan Adams  ~  "I Finally Found Someone"  (I remember this movie not at all. The song, however, is still good some 15-20 years later.)

13)  Tony Bennett & k.d. lang  ~  "Moonglow"  (Oh, look! Another Tony Bennett duet! Yeah. What's your point? It's good, isn't it?)

14)  Céline Dion & Peabo Bryson  ~  "Beauty And The Beast"  (If James Ingram is the king of duets, then Peabo Bryson is the emperor. This is just one of three great songs on which Peabo teamed up with [better-known] singers in this post alone.)

15)  Elton John & George Michael  ~  "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me"  (This is actually an older song of Elton John's, but George Michael covered it live and brought Elton onstage to sing it with him in the '90s, and the live version became a smash hit. And why not? It's pretty awesome!)

16)  Patty Smyth & Don Henley  ~  "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough"  (This song will sound every bit as good fifty years from now, and will probably be better then than most songs on the radio. It's sad that some folks today may never have heard it before, or may have even forgotten it exists. Don't be one of those people!)

17)  Youssou N'Dour & Neneh Cherry  ~  "7 Seconds"  (This is one of those nifty songs I discovered years and years after it was released, and I like it. Do you remember it from when it came out originally?)

18)  Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville  ~  "All My Life"  (Great song by a great couple of singers.)

19) Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle  ~  "A Whole New World"  (Don't you DARE close your eyes!)

20)  Céline Dion & R. Kelly  ~  "I'm Your Angel"  (I forgot about this song. I liked it then, and I still do. Take a listen!)

21)  Vanessa Williams & Brian McKnight  ~  "Love Is"  (This is another great collaboration that I'd forgotten about. Amazing stuff!)

22)  Whitney Houston & CeCe Winans  ~  "Count On Me"  (CeCe gives Whitney a run for her money here, and that's saying a LOT!)

23)  Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men  ~  "One Sweet Day"  (I looked it up, and apparently this does count as a duet, even though one of the two "artists" is a vocal group. Either way, I would have included it because it's fantastic!)

24)  Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack ~   "Tonight I Celebrate My Love"  (I was singing Peabo's part of this song at the top of my lungs in the shower yesterday morning, after having heard it a couple of days before. Is that TMI?)

25)  Céline Dion & Clive Griffin  ~  "When I Fall In Love"  (This is a timeless classic that deserves multiple listens. But for now, why not at least give it one?)

Dazzling Duets By Dynamic Duos: 2000 To The Present

Here's part 1 of what will be a 4-part series featuring...well, exactly what the title says...Dazzling Duets by Dynamic Duos. There were so many good ones to choose from that I decided to break the posts up by time periods. These songs are from the past 15 years. The 2nd post will be all 1990s songs, the third will be '80s songs, and the final post will be songs released before 1980. Why did I decide to do the posts from newest to oldest? Because, frankly, as good as these songs are, the duets just get better and better the longer ago they were. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  P!nk & Nate Ruess  ~  "Just Give Me A Reason"  (This is one of my personal favorites among these. The lyrics, their voices, it's just perfect!)

2)  Gotye & Kimbra  ~  "Somebody That I Used To Know"  (Another "instant classic" here. The first time I heard this song, I found myself yelling at the radio: "Who is THAT? I have to KNOW!")

3)  Rihanna & Mikky Ekko  ~  "Stay"  (Powerful song!)

4)  Needtobreathe & Gavin DeGraw  ~  "Brother"  (I've heard this song on the radio a bunch of times, but I honestly didn't know it was a duet – or that there was a duet version of it – until a Facebook friend suggested it for this series. Love it!)

5)  Céline Dion & Ne-Yo  ~  "Incredible"  (Here's one I hadn't heard before researching for this post. Two very different artists with...well...incredible voices, plus there's a giraffe in the video? Count me in!)

6)  A Great Big World & Christina Aguilera  ~  "Say Something"  (There are no words for how I feel when I listen to this song. Well, here's one word: Breathtaking!)

7)  He Is We & Owl City  ~  "All About Us"  (When I first came up with the concept for this series, it was supposed to be duets between two different solo artists...in theory. But I've already broken that rule with the Needtobreathe and A Great Big World songs above, and there are a few other songs that "break the rules" which absolutely belong here, so I'm letting go of this arbitrary rule from here on out.)

8)  Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga  ~  "The Lady Is A Tramp"  (You'd think a lady who goes by "Lady" would be reticent to sing a song by this title. But when the lady is "Gaga" all bets are off!)

9)  Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown  ~  "No Air"  (I know, I know, we're all supposed to hate Chris Brown because he beats women up. I'm not condoning his behavior by including this song here; I'm including it because it's good. Simple as that!)

10)  Jay-Z & Alicia Keys  ~  "Empire State Of Mind"  (I wasn't sure when adding this if vocal/rap combos counted as duets or not. Then I decided since this one is composed of almost equal parts of each that this song certainly does count.)

11)  Shakira & Rihanna  ~  "Can't Remember To Forget You"  (Both of these singers appear elsewhere in this post. When the songs are good, repeating artists is absolutely okay.)

12)  Brad Paisley & Carrie Underwood  ~  "Remind Me"  (Whomever suggested this song for inclusion in this series [was it you, Penny?], thank you. I had only heard it once before and had forgot it existed. It's a good one!)

13)  Taylor Swift & Ed Sheeran  ~  "Everything Has Changed"  (I adore this song. And I'm a big fan of both of its singers.)

14)  Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow  ~  "Picture"  (An odd pairing of quite-different artists resulted in a modern classic. Somebody knew what they were doing.)

15)  Beyoncé & Shakira  ~  "Beautiful Liar"  (These two highly accomplished pop singers complement each other nicely as a duo.)

16)  Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat  ~  "Lucky"  (I love both of these artists individually, but especially so on this song that pairs their wonderful voices together.)

17)  Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor  ~  "Come What May"  (I've loved this song ever since I first saw Moulin Rouge, the musical from which it derives. So much so that it was sung as part of our wedding ceremony.)

18)  John Mayer & Katy Perry  ~  "Who You Love"  (These two love who they love for a little while [and sometimes each other[, then they love somebody else. Serially. But it's a good song.)

19)  Brad Paisley & Alison Krauss  ~  "Whiskey Lullaby"  (Thank you for suggesting this one, Amy. It's a gem!)

20)  Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová  ~  "Falling Slowly"  (Haven't seen the movie, but I bet I'd like it. Because I just LOVE this song. Thanks, Jenny, for the suggestion!)

21)  Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse  ~  "Body And Soul"  (Let's face it: Tony Bennett would sound good with anybody. But pair him with one of the best neo-soul singers in the past 15 years and you have a song for the ages. This one.)

22)  Keith Urban & Miranda Lambert  ~  "We Were Us"  (We've had a Nicole Kidman sighting – two in one post, actually – so why not have her hubby, Keith Urban, make an appearance as well? Nice tune, too.)

23)  Nelly & Tim McGraw  ~  "Over And Over"  (Talk about your oddball duets. But it's actually not bad. Just unexpected is all.)

24)  Robert Plant & Alison Krauss  ~  "Please Read The Letter"  (Every song I've heard from these two together has been excellent. This song is just one of the more memorable ones.)

25)  Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman  ~  "Somethin' Stupid"  (Here's the other Nicole Kidman sighting. And a cute song it is, too. It's actually a cover song of one Frank Sinatra did with his daughter, Nancy, in the '60s.)