They go together like rhythm and blues: Marvin and Tammi; Roberta and Donny; Ike and Tina. The history of R&B is filled with duos who’ve made unforgettable memories, groundbreaking contributions and—most of all—sweet, sweet music.
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Without these duos, we wouldn’t have formative songs in the R&B canon like “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” “River Deep – Mountain High,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.” Nor would more modern classics like “The Boy Is Mine,” “All My Life,” or “That’s the Way Love Goes” exist as perfect examples of the genre’s second golden age in the ‘90s.
From Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to Chloe x Halle and everyone in between, we’ve ranked the ten best duos in R&B history.
1. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
When you think of some of the most iconic duets in R&B history, you’re almost certainly hearing the voices of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Whether it’s “Your Precious Love,” “You’re All I Need to Get By,” or “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” the dear friends’ chemistry on record was undeniably magnetic. It’s hard to believe their catalog of now-classic songs only spans a total of four years.
Sadly, Terrell passed away in 1970 at the age of 24 from a brain tumor, with Gaye delivering the final eulogy at her funeral. With seven unforgettable Top 40 hits and six entries on the R&B chart together, the duo were posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame together in 1999.
[RELATED: The Empowering Meaning Behind “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross]
2. Ike and Tina Turner
Tina Turner stands on her own as the undisputed “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” However, before she carved a solo path to being crowned rock royalty, she and her husband performed as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Some of Tina’s most beloved hits come from her time with Ike, including “Proud Mary,” “Nutbush City Limits,” and “River Deep – Mountain High.”
Though they split in 1976 following a highly tumultuous and abusive marriage, the duo were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 and both “Proud Mary” and “River Deep – Mountain High” have been included in the Grammy Hall of Fame as singles.
3. Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
Pure magic. That’s the only way to properly describe what happened every time Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway’s voices came together. In 1972, the close friends released their first album together, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, which featured singles “You’ve Got a Friend,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” and “Where Is the Love.” The latter earned Hathaway and Flack a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and the record bowed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, becoming the highest-charting LP of Hathaway’s tragically short career.
At the time of his 1979 death by suicide, the “For All We Know” crooner had once again been recording with Flack. The result turned out to be the 1980 full-length Roberta Flack Featuring Donny Hathaway, which included his posthumous vocals on “Back Together Again” and “You Are My Heaven.”
4. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
There’s perhaps no greater duo in all of R&B when it comes to songwriting and production than Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Instantly recognizable in their signature fedoras and dark glasses, these pros have racked up 16 No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 and 26 more on the R&B chart—most notably for longtime collaborator Janet Jackson, but also for Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, Usher, and many more. Additionally, they hold the record for most nominations in Grammy history for Producer of the Year, with one win and 11 total nods under their belt.
5. The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers has always been a family affair, ranging from their original vocal trio to a full band made up of all five brothers and a brother-in-law. Their success dates all the way back to the ‘50s and ‘60s with early hits like “Shout” and “Twist and Shout.” However, we’re including them here because, by the mid-’90s, the group had boiled down to the duo of Ronald and Ernie Isley. The twosome earned The Isley Brothers a second life thanks to Ronald’s “Mr. Biggs” persona on albums like Mission to Please (1996), Eternal (2001), and Body Kiss (2003).
6. K-Ci & JoJo
Before properly branching out on their own, K-Ci & JoJo were two-fourths of Jodeci, though after the group went on hiatus in 1996, the brothers began recording as a duo. Their best-known single, “All My Life,” spent three consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 as well as two weeks in the top spot on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. They enjoyed nine more hits that dominated the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list.
7. Brandy and Monica
Brandy and Monica may both be solo artists, but their parallel careers have been tied together since their emergence as stars in the early ‘90s. Rumors of a rivalry between the two were only fueled by their 1998 smash “The Boy Is Mine,” which spent 13 weeks at No. 1 and became the best-selling song of the year.
More than a decade later, Brandy and Monica reunited for another duet, 2012’s “It All Belongs to Me.” They also faced off in a massively popular Verzuz battle in 2020 that drew a record of more than 6 million viewers.
8. BeBe and CeCe Winans
BeBe and CeCe Winans’ roots were always in gospel music, but their self-titled sophomore album from 1987 scored the siblings a secular R&B hit in the form of “I.O.U. Me.” They went on to rack up even more crossover successes on both the gospel and R&B charts as they continued to release music through the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Their most notable hits included “Addictive Love,” “I’ll Take You There” featuring Mavis Staples, and “It’s OK,” all of which were included on the 1991 album Different Lifestyles.
9. Chloe x Halle
Speaking of sibling acts, Chloe x Halle brought the art of pitch-perfect harmonizing into the modern age of R&B when they burst onto the scene in the late 2010s. With none other than Beyoncé as a mentor, the Bailey sisters have so far raked in a total of five Grammy nominations (including Best New Artist), released two studio albums—including the sublime Ungodly Hour—and opened for Queen Bey multiple times on tour. This year, they’ve both gone solo, with Chlöe dropping her debut album, In Pieces, and Halle starring as Ariel in Disney’s live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
10. Ashford & Simpson
While Ashford & Simpson were a successful R&B act in their own right, the husband-and-wife team’s even bigger claim to fame was as a songwriting duo. Throughout their career, the couple penned tracks for icons from Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles to Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Diana Ross. Furthermore, they wrote several of Marvin Gaye’s and Tammi Terrell’s most famous duets, including “You’re All I Need to Get By,” “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
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