Multiple Grammy Award-Winners, and Multi-Platinum Selling Artists Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. Released Their New single, Silly Love Songs

Music Icons, multiple Grammy Award-winners, and multi-platinum selling artists Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. released their new single, Silly Love Songs, in February. The new offering is from the couple’s highly anticipated first studio album in three decades, Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons.

Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons marks the couple’s first album with Encore Endeavor 1 (EE1), a subsidiary of kathy ireland® Worldwide (kiWW®), which has a multi-recording agreement with music giant BMG. This project also marks kiWW’s second collaboration with BMG, with the first one making music history after Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable skyrocketed to Billboard’s top spot on the album chart.

The couple enjoys tremendous success through the years as recording artists, performers, and authors. They have received 7 Grammy Awards, and earned 15 gold and 3 platinum records.

“Marilyn and Billy are pop culture icons, whose music is listened to by millions of people, all over the world, every year, according to Spotify. They are national treasures. We have very few artists today that are able to do what Marilyn & Billy do vocally, and even fewer with their history,” says Kathy Ireland, Chair, CEO of kathy ireland® Worldwide, who co-founded Encore Endeavor 1 with Nic Mendoza, the heir to a family with generations of extraordinary musical success.

“Marilyn and Billy have been a part of our family for a long time. They have timeless hits, changed the sound of music, and seven Grammys in every genre from pop to R&B. Their voices are powerful, both literally and figuratively.

We are beyond thrilled to share with the world their first studio album in three decades, and it is a great pleasure to do it with our great partners, the incredible team at BMG, and of course their CEO, Hartwig Masuch.

Silly Love Songs is a Valentine to all the lovers everywhere, from the first couple of Pop & Soul. Marilyn & Billy are inspired by great artists, and Silly Love Songs is an homage to the true spirit of love.”

Hustle and Soul Magazine got an exclusive interview with Marilyn and Billy.

Tammy: Please tell us about what Blackbird means for you?

Billy: It’s a song about lives being taken for no logical reason, other than someone just not liking you, or your color.

Marilyn: I think of a little soul, no matter their age … a blackbird learning how to fly and leaving the nest … and not coming home. Not because of what they did, but because of what was done to them.

Tammy: What feedback have you received so far?

Billy: The feedback has been very positive and people understand the statement we’re making for these times. Love is the only antidote to hate. Love comes in every color …

Marilyn: Also, we’ve been hearing positive feedback about how we approached The Beatles material in an interesting and different way. For example, reflecting the influences of Blues greats like Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed in Billy’s version of Ticket To Ride, which is now a top 25 radio hit in places like the legendary Muscle Shoals!

At our age, being on the charts with youngin’s like H.E.R., Bruno Mars, Kelly Rowland, and even Toni Braxton … we’re shocked to be among these artists, who could be our grandchildren, and musically are … we’re so proud of what they’re accomplishing. Knowing that many of them experienced our history, or since it is Women’s History Month, let’s say Herstory, too!

Tammy: What was your reaction to the Summer 2020 Black Lives Matter movement?

Billy: With some violent, cruel folks out there, with some of the attitude that was happening in our country … it felt like the bombings of our churches, which started in 1822 – the same year Harriett Tubman was born.

Some of this evil is still happening, so a reaction was bound to happen. A lot of people misunderstood the meaning though, which was simple: Stop Killing Our People. This has to stop. Our new record, blackbird Lennon-McCartney Icons, isn’t a message. It’s our contribution to the movement for true freedom.

Marilyn: We were moved by how our young people of all colors understood what was meant by all lives matter, and they were tired of the killings and school shootings … the fear of going to school. Our generation has a lot to learn from them. It makes me cry to see young people care so much …

Tammy: From your perspective, how far has racial justice and equality come since the
Civil Rights movement?

Marilyn & Billy: We’re sorry to say that it’s still got a long way to go. The fight for civil rights in this country has been happening since before we were born. When we were with The 5th Dimension, we had wonderful opportunities to be trailblazers in the entertainment business. We’ve seen so many examples of back-and-forth circumstances … looking like it was getting better and more hopeful … then once again moving into major disappointments. It can be very discouraging.

We remember an 8 foot by 8-foot cross being burned on our lawn … we remember Billy having the police pull guns on him, as he was bringing packages into our home. The expectation was that Billy couldn’t own our home. He was treated like a thief in the night, in our own neighborhood.

Looking over our shoulders, we should have talked more about the segregation battles we fought … running in the streets, from cops in Chicago, during the 1968 Convention
… being ignored, along with all the Black artists for the Harlem Cultural Festival … where 300,000 Black folks came to see Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, Sly & The Family Stone, as well as our 5th Dimension family.

Questlove’s Sundance Award-winning film made it right … He directed a winner and we love him and the movie. It’s kind of a renaissance for us. We never expected to record again for a major record label … EE1 and our producer, Nic Mendoza, a Latinx baby, begged us to record again and he put together every tongue, color, orientation and tribe … brought us to BMG, and here we are … and we’re loving it.

Tammy: How do you handle being a couple in the music industry?

Marilyn & Billy: Our relationship started from a deep friendship, a shared passion for music, and a desire to have lifelong careers in the entertainment business. We’ve been so blessed to not only have this dream come true but come true with the person you love.

We are very thankful and look at everything we’ve accomplished as a blessing … a true gift from God. Of course, there have been some challenges over the years … as in all relationships. One of the most important things for us is always to support each other in everything we do.

Tammy: How did your collaboration with Kathy lreland come about?

Marilyn & Billy: We first met Kathy through our dear friends, that we’ve known for over 40 years … We spent a great time around one another and developed a fast and deep friendship.

We also found that we shared a strong connection to our Faith in common. When Hurricane Katrina happened, Kathy, us, and a number of artists and personalities went down to Louisiana and Mississippi together to serve.

We became much closer on that trip. We were delighted to bond with Kathy, a woman whose heart is there for all people … like us. Kathy values every life … Black, White, Brown, Asian, LGBTQ … People get messed up in the head and think crazy things.

We love the Lord and everyone is made by Him, so we love everybody. That doesn’t mean that we tolerate hate, disrespect, or discrimination. We didn’t then and we don’t now. We’re not young, but we’re not asleep. You kids call it “woke.” We are!

Tammy: What was the process like creating music during the pandemic?

Marilyn & Billy: We kept all the protocols. We were concerned not only because we were African American, but at our ages, we’re in a higher risk category. We checked with our doctors, maintained social distancing, sanitizing, and kept our masks on!

This project began prior to the pandemic, but we were in the studio during the midst of it. During this whole process, we’ve also had a chance to do something that we’ve seldom been able to do … which was rest! We haven’t done any significant travel in a year. Haven’t been on a plane, and for us, that’s really been strange.

We’ve been frequent flyers ever since The 5th Dimension, so this has been a totally new experience for us in many ways. One thing we’ve missed most of all is performing for our audiences.

Tammy: What else are you currently working on?

Marilyn & Billy: We’ve been frequent flyers ever since The 5th Dimension, so this has been a totally new experience for us in many ways. One thing we’ve missed most of all is performing for our audiences.

Tammy: What else are you currently working on?

Marilyn & Billy: Working on getting ready for our live shows again, and of course incorporating our new music from blackbird Lennon-McCartney Icons into the performance.

Again, it was wonderful when Questlove asked us to be featured in his new documentary on the 1968 Harlem Cultural Festival, called Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), which won both the Grandy Jury and Audience Awards at the Sundance Film Festival!

It was such a thrill to reconnect with that performance when we were with the original 5th Dimension, and we celebrate Questlove’s amazing success!

Tammy: What do you want people to learn from the album?

Marilyn & Billy: We want everyone to really enjoy this album, and understand the importance of the statement of the music. We’ve been blessed, to be alive and to see so many changes … we feel that it is so important for younger people to hear from the older generation.

Those of us who experienced everything from the Watts Riots in 1965 to the Rodney King Riots in 1992. We talked about running in the streets in 1968 …

Here’s the context and history: it was a horrible year, we lost Dr. Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy … we lost a lot of hope for change …We actually were performing at the 1968 Democratic Convention when riots erupted in the streets right outside the stadium.

Many don’t know that Dr. King’s mother was a blackbird, who was assassinated while playing the organ in Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her husband and son preached. This record pays tribute to the lives lost of people we know, and so many people who were killed that we do not know. This is not a “protest” record.

This is singing from our souls to share history, hope, and be a part of a movement for progress. We’ve seen and been through so much from when we were in our early 20s to now. All of that is reflected in the blackbird album … from the music to the art.

Tammy: What’s next for you?

Marilyn & Billy: Who knows, anything could happen! We never expected to hear such beautiful remarks about our new album from such icons as Vanessa Williams, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, even Dolly Parton who we’ve known forever, and who understands that Black Lives Matter.

Dolly said recently, just before endorsing our record, “Of course Black Lives Matter … do people think God only cares about our little white a****?!” That shows you, Dolly is white, and from the deepest of the South … but Dolly’s not asleep either.

You don’t have to be young to know that, as we sang years ago, a change is gonna come! … and blackbird, in 2021 is a part of that change.

Thank you for sharing your platform at Hustle & Soul with us!