50 Fun Facts About Hard Famous Duos

Under what name did teenage Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel score a minor hit with 'Hey Schoolgirl' in 1957?

They recorded it for $25 at a Manhattan studio while imitating their close-harmony idols from Kentucky. Their 1964 Columbia debut Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. initially flopped.

Where did Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe meet on 19 August 1981?

Tennant needed a connector for a Korg synthesiser. The 1999 Guinness Book of Records listed the Pet Shop Boys as the most successful duo in British music history.

Per Keith Richards, what did Andrew Loog Oldham do to force him and Jagger to write songs?

The result was 'As Tears Go By', a hit for Marianne Faithfull. The credit read Jagger–Richard until 1978.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield originally planned to open what business before switching to ice cream?

The bagel equipment was too expensive, so they took a correspondence course in ice-cream making. Unilever bought the company in 2000.

William Procter and James Gamble became partners in 1837 at the urging of whom?

The English candlemaker and Irish soapmaker had married sisters Olivia and Elizabeth Norris after settling in Cincinnati.

Hewlett and Packard's first big contract, in 1938, supplied oscillators for which Walt Disney production?

The order for HP 200B oscillators let the pair formally found the company on July 2, 1939, after starting in a Palo Alto garage with $538.

Which Stanford professor's fellowship supported Hewlett and Packard in the garage?

Both men finished their Stanford electrical engineering degrees in 1935 and regarded Terman as a mentor.

Before teaming with Charles Rolls, Henry Royce ran what kind of business in Manchester from 1884?

Royce's dissatisfaction with a second-hand Decauville car led him to build his own; the first was finished on 1 April 1904 and driven to Knutsford and back.

Michael Marks took on Thomas Spencer as partner in 1894 after acquiring a stall in which city's covered market?

Marks, a Polish Jew from Slonim, had been helped with his English by Spencer's wife Agnes. Spencer was a bookkeeper from Skipton.

Which Dayton trade taught the Wright brothers that an unstable flying machine could be balanced with practice?

Their three-axis control system remains standard on aircraft. Their first patent, in March 1903, did not even claim invention of a flying machine.

Oliver Hardy took his stage first name from whom?

Born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia, he was called 'Babe' by friends. Stan Laurel was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, England.

At which Atlantic City venue did Martin and Lewis debut on July 25, 1946?

Owner Skinny D'Amato threatened to fire them until they ditched the script and improvised, with Lewis as a plate-dropping busboy.

Sonny Bono worked for which producer when he met 16-year-old Cher in 1962?

Cher sang backing vocals on Spector classics including 'Be My Baby'. The couple's unofficial wedding was in 1964; the legal one came in 1969.

Rolling Stone's 2015 list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time put which act at number one?

Ike & Tina were second and Outkast seventh. Don and Phil Everly's close harmonies influenced the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Bee Gees.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid fled the United States to which two South American countries?

The pair travelled with Sundance's girlfriend Etta Place, pursued by the Pinkertons. Cassidy was born Robert LeRoy Parker in Beaver, Utah Territory.

Which member of the Thelma & Louise team won the film's only Academy Award?

The film had six nominations, including both leads for Best Actress. Louise drives a 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible.

Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong met in 1969 in which city, where Marin had moved to avoid the Vietnam draft?

Chong's improv group City Works performed at a strip club owned by his family. Their 1978 film Up in Smoke grossed over $44 million.

Before Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement performed in a five-man group that also included which future film director?

The group, So You're a Man, debuted at Wellington's BATS Theatre. McKenzie and Clement had been flatmates at Victoria University.

Which Outkast release is the only one of their albums to debut at number one on the Billboard 200?

The 2003 double album went Diamond and won Album of the Year at the Grammys, powered by 'Hey Ya!' and 'The Way You Move'.

In a hotel in which Australian town did Lennox and Stewart decide to become a duo?

Both had been in the Tourists, which broke up in 1980. The name Eurythmics comes from a movement-based teaching system Lennox met as a child.

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley first performed together in a short-lived ska band called what?

They met at Bushey Meads School in 1975. In 1985 Wham! made a ten-day trip to China, the first by a Western pop act.

Steely Dan's Becker and Fagen met in 1967 at which school in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York?

Fagen initially turned Becker down as a bassist because his existing bassist owned all the gear. Their 2000 comeback Two Against Nature won Album of the Year.

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith's first band, before Tears for Fears, was a mod revival act called what?

Graduate's 1980 single 'Elvis Should Play Ska' referred to Elvis Costello. Tears for Fears' 1985 album Songs from the Big Chair topped the US chart.

How many perfect 6.0s did Torvill and Dean's Boléro earn at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics?

Every judge gave 6.0 for artistic impression, plus six 5.9s. Nottingham's National Ice Centre is reached through Bolero Square in their honour.

Which first Lennon–McCartney single changed George Martin's mind about whether the pair could write hits?

It reached the UK top 20. Between October 1962 and May 1970 the partnership published roughly 180 songs.

Gilbert and Sullivan's first collaboration, Thespis, was staged in 1871 by which producer?

D'Oyly Carte later brought them back together and built the Savoy Theatre for their 14 comic operas.

Ant & Dec's pop career as PJ & Duncan took its name from what?

The pair from Newcastle went on to host SMTV Live, Pop Idol, I'm a Celebrity and Britain's Got Talent, and starred in the 2006 film Alien Autopsy.

Under what name did Eric and Ernie make their double-act debut at the Liverpool Empire in August 1941?

Eric's mother Sadie suggested they form an act. A 1954 review of their TV debut called the television set 'the box in which they buried Morecambe and Wise'.

Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett met in 1963 at London's Buckstone Club, where Corbett was doing what?

David Frost put them both in The Frost Report with John Cleese. Their 'Four Candles' sketch first aired in September 1976.

Which was the only one of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers's ten films together not made at RKO?

MGM made it in 1949 in Technicolor. Their first pairing, Flying Down to Rio in 1933, gave them only fifth and fourth billing.

Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy made how many films together during their 26-year affair?

They were cool to each other at first on Woman of the Year but were calling each other Spence and Kate within a week.

Which senior FBI official was Woodward and Bernstein's Watergate source 'Deep Throat'?

Felt had been passed over for director in favour of Gray after J. Edgar Hoover's death and leaked to undermine him.

Masters and Johnson began their research in 1957 in the obstetrics department of which St. Louis institution?

In 1964 they founded their own institute in St. Louis, renamed the Masters and Johnson Institute in 1978.

Currier and Ives advertised themselves as what?

Nathaniel Currier founded the New York business in 1835; the name changed in 1857 when James Ives joined.

Richard Sears got his start when a jeweller refused delivery of what, which he bought cheaply and resold?

The railway station agent in North Redwood, Minnesota, met watch repairman Alvah Roebuck in 1886 and moved the business to Chicago a year later.

Rodgers and Hart wrote how many stage musicals together before Hart's death in 1943?

Pal Joey, with a book by John O'Hara about a heel of a title character, is called their masterpiece. Rodgers first met Hart in 1919 while still at high school.

According to Alan Jay Lerner, how did he meet Frederick, his future partner, at the Lambs Club in 1942?

Loewe asked if he wrote lyrics and they started immediately. Their first show, Life of the Party, had a brief Detroit run and never reached Broadway.

Which 1965 Kander and Ebb musical, their first on Broadway, marked Liza Minnelli's Broadway debut?

Harold Prince had first tested the pair with the unproduced Golden Gate. Cabaret followed in 1966 and ran over 1,100 performances.

Bacharach and David's first major hit, in 1957, was recorded by which country star?

'The Story of My Life' was followed by Perry Como's 'Magic Moments'. From 1961 most of their songs were tailored to Dionne Warwick.

Where was Jerry Leiber working when he met Mike Stoller in Los Angeles in 1950?

Leiber was still a senior at Fairfax High. The pair went on to write 'Hound Dog', 'Jailhouse Rock' and the Coasters' 'Yakety Yak'.

Which producer suggested that solo artists Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn team up in 1988?

Signed to Arista Nashville, they scored 20 number ones on the country chart, and 'Boot Scootin' Boogie' helped revive line dancing.

Wynonna's mother, one half of the country duo formed in Ashland, Kentucky, was born under what name?

Her daughter Christina Ciminella became Wynonna. The duo won five Grammys for country duo or group performance.

Simon & Schuster was founded in 1924 to publish what, after Simon's aunt asked whether one existed?

Simon was a piano salesman and Max Schuster edited an automotive trade magazine when they pooled $8,000.

William Fortnum was a footman in whose household when he started reselling half-used candles?

He persuaded his landlord Hugh Mason to join him, opening the first shop in St James's Market in 1707. Alan Bennett's George III play moves the story decades later.

Horace Smith and Daniel Wesson's earlier firm was sold to a New Haven shirt maker and became what?

The pair then founded the Smith & Wesson Revolver Company in 1856.

Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker met in 1906 as 23-year-old workers at which Baltimore employer?

They founded their Baltimore machine shop in 1910 with $1,200 between them. Decker had only a seventh-grade education.

Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, who founded Baskin-Robbins in 1945, were related how?

The '31 flavors' slogan came from the Carson-Roberts ad agency in 1953. Baskin had made ice cream for fellow sailors in World War II.

Abbott and Costello first worked together in 1935 when Costello's regular partner fell ill at which New York theatre?

Abbott substituted at the Eltinge on 42nd Street; other performers, including Abbott's wife, urged a permanent pairing.

Daryl Hall and John Oates first met in 1967 at which Philadelphia venue?

Each was fronting his own group when they met at the Adelphi Ballroom; the duo formed in 1970.

Penn and Teller performed their first show together on August 19, 1975 at which event?

Introduced by Weir Chrisemer, the pair debuted at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and later performed with Chrisemer as a trio.