Ronald & Ruby were an American pop vocal duo, best known for their 1958

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

, "

Lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker and sticky-pop. Lollipops are avail ...

". The duo's members were the

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

Ronald Gumm (or Gumps) and the

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

Beverly "Ruby" Ross; interracial pop groups were unusual at the time, and the group did not appear in public or in major press and television outlets. They had previously worked together as

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

s; among their credits are "Young and Hungry for Love", "Frankenstein Rock", "Fat Pat", "Soul Mates", "Don't Come to My Party", and "The Ghost of Love". In 1958, they released a single together entitled "

". It became a hit in the U.S., reaching No. 20 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was covered to greater chart success by both

the Chordettes The Chordettes were an American female vocal quartet, specializing in traditional pop music. They are best known for their 1950s hit singles " Mr. Sandman" and " Lollipop", both of which sold over a million copies. Career The group organized i ...

and

the Mudlarks The Mudlarks were an English pop vocal group of the late 1950s and early 1960s. They had two Top 10 UK hit singles in 1958. Career The Mudlarks were a family group from Luton, Bedfordshire, England, originally comprising Fred Mudd (1933–200 ...

. They released several further singles, including "Love Birds", none of them hits. Ross continued as a songwriter, recording nearly 200 songs with BMI, including " Candy Man" (for

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...

) and " Judy's Turn to Cry" (for

Lesley Gore Lesley Gore (born Lesley Sue Goldstein, May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. At the age of 16, she recorded her first hit song " It's My Party", a US number one in 1963. She follow ...

References

American pop music duos Male–female musical duos {{US-pop-band-stub