Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., are the 7-time Grammy Award-winning duo, known as “The First Couple of Pop & Soul”. Marilyn began her career singing with Ray Charles, and Billy in churches, choirs and artist management, including Anna Mae Bullock, who became Tina Turner. Marilyn & Billy have been married for 51 years, and they launched the career of the original 5th Dimension as lead singers and co-founders of the legendary group. Their Pop/Soul classics include “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show,” “Up, Up And Away,” (Grammy Hall of Fame, 2004) “Aquarius / Let The Sunshine In,” (Grammy Hall of Fame, 2003) “Worst That Could Happen,” “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Sweet Blindness,” “Wedding Bell Blues,” and “One Less Bell To Answer.” While with The 5th Dimension, and after leaving the quintet, Marilyn & Billy paved the way for countless artists, and made history for the African American community, when The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show on CBS became the first and only, to date, television series to star a Black married couple.

Marilyn & Billy performed at the 1968 Harlem Cultural Festival, shared the stage with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and other Rock / Soul icons at the Monterey Jazz Festival, are winners of the Tokyo Music Festival, and are recipients of four Playboy Jazz Festival wins. Marilyn & Billy are the only couple to win a Grammy in both, R&B and Pop, and one of only two married couples to win a Grammy together in R&B, the other being Billy’s protégé, Tina Turner and her former and late husband Ike Turner. Marilyn & Billy have 15 Gold 3 Platinum records to date. Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons on EE1 BMG is the couple’s first album in thirty years, is receiving extraordinary reviews. Music critics call Marilyn & Billy’s voices, “bionic”. New York Daily News describes blackbird as “passionate.” Roger Friedman of Showbiz411 says Marilyn & Billy, “breathe new life into blackbird … a knockout performance … a gorgeous cover …” “Amazing.”

Marilyn & Billy are celebrated in Questlove’s directorial feature, “Summer of Soul (…Or, when the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, breaking festival records, going on to win an Oscar for Best Feature Documentary and a Grammy for Best Music Film.  Marilyn & Billy are the only African American married couple to appear in music and television for each of the last six decades, using their platform powerfully for “Civil Rights, which are Human Rights … Fannie Lou Hammer famously said, ‘none of us is free, until all of us are free.'” Marilyn & Billy’s activism began in the segregated 1960s, and continues with the release of Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons, “a plea for social justice that everyone deserves.”

Marilyn and Billy’s Television credits are inclusive of every decade from 1960 when they performed on the Ed Sullivan Show to their recent appearance on the daytime drama, Days of Our Lives.  Their Television presence includes Solid Gold, Sonny & Cher, Dionne Warwick, Andy Williams Show, Dolly Parton & Friends, Ed Sullivan, Specials, as well as “Love Boat,” “Jamie Foxx Show,” “Night Court,” “It Takes a Thief,” “The Fall Guy,” and “Punky Brewster” to name a few.

Marilyn and Billy, who celebrated their 52^st anniversary this past July, are the authors of “Up, Up and Away, How we found love, faith and lasting marriage in the entertainment world.” The book details how they weathered opposite backgrounds, alcoholism, and the glamorous lifestyle and serves as an inspiration to fans and married couples alike. Their recent projects also include the 25th Anniversary Tour of the Colors of Christmas, with Peabo Bryson, Ruben Studdard and Jody Watley; the Mister Rogers Tribute Album with Sandy Patti, Lee Greenwood, Vanessa Williams, and Jon Secada, “Thank you Mister Rogers,” which won a Parents Choice Award this past November; and performing at the Celebration of the Music of Jimmy Webb at Carnegie Hall.

Fans of the timeless couple, who actively tour and perform live at events and concerts all over the country, will be in for a treat.   Marilyn and Billy released their first studio album in three decades, album title and concept announced in celebration of Black History Month (on EE1, a kathy ireland® Worldwide subsidiary, distributed by BMG, the world’s 7^th-largest music company), later this year. Producers include Kathleen Marie Ireland and produced by Nic Mendoza, Co-Founder of EE1, Vice President of kathy ireland® Worldwide and CEO of Uprise LLC.

Marilyn and Billy have headlined Las Vegas with their highly acclaimed, musical production, “Up, Up & Away! a musical fable.” It is a journey and musical celebration of their own iconic music. The show also includes tributes to fellow music legends including The Beatles and The 5th Dimension’s original lineup. Marilyn and Billy remarked, “The production gives us the pleasure of sharing experiences, and timeless music with audiences of every age. It is more than the story of The 5th Dimension … it is indeed a fable.”

Additional tour dates around the world to be announced soon.

Marilyn and Billy reside in Beverly Hills.  They are both avid tennis fans, and can be seen regularly at the BNP Paribas tournament in Indian Wells, CA.