Mickey 'Guitar' Baker Dead: 'Love Is Strange' Singer Dies at 87

Mickey "Guitar" Baker, rock session musician and writer of the "Dirty Dancing" hit song "Love Is Strange," has died. According to New York Daily News the guitarist passed away Tuesday (Nov. 27) at his adopted home of Toulouse, France. He was 87.

In the 1950s Baker and singer Sylvia Vanderpool recorded "Love Is Strange," a ballad that made a huge resurgence with the 1987 film "Dirty Dancing," when it was used to soundtrack a famous "seduction" scene between Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.

Baker was born MacHouston Baker in Louisville, Ky. He was orphaned at a young age, and eventually found himself in New York City. With only $14 to his name, the aspiring musician bought a cheap guitar at a local pawn shop.

By the '50s, Baker found himself a top-ranking session musician for Atlantic. His work was included in thousands of records, from the guitar riffs of Ike and Tina Turner's "It's Gonna Work Out Fine," to Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll."

Baker moved to France in the mid 1960s where he remained until his death. The guitarist's former singing partner, Vanderpool, died last year.

Musicians Who Died in 2012