Lou Teicher, half of the popular Ferrante & Teicher piano duo who had top-10 hits in the 1960s with their lushly orchestrated movie-theme singles, has died. He was 83.
Teicher, a longtime resident of Sarasota, Fla., died unexpectedly of heart failure Sunday at his summer home in Highlands, N.C., said Scott W. Smith, Ferrante and Teicher's personal manager.
In a musical collaboration that spanned five decades and ended when they retired from the concert stage in 1989, Ferrante & Teicher recorded 150 original albums that, along with dozens of singles, sold 88 million records worldwide. In the process, they earned 22 gold and platinum records.
The duo's albums featured what they called their "prepared-pianos," in which they altered the natural piano sound by adding various objects to the piano strings, including rubber wedges, metal chains, glass, wood and cardboard.
"Theme from 'The Apartment' " became Ferrante & Teicher's first million-selling single. And when their recording of the theme from "Exodus" was released five months later, it would became their largest-selling single: some 6.5 million copies.
Dubbed "the Movie Theme Team," they had another million-selling top-10 single with "Tonight" from "West Side Story" in 1961.
Their recording of the theme from "Midnight Cowboy" in 1969, was their last million-selling top-10 single.
The piano duo, who frequently appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Tonight Show," also performed for Presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan.
Before retiring in 1989, Ferrante & Teicher had performed more than 5,200 concerts.
Teicher, who was born Aug. 24, 1924 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., lived in Sarasota on Siesta Key, not far from Ferrante, who lives on Longboat Key.
"I will miss him dearly," Ferrante said, noting that "as pianists, it's ironic how we both ended up living on keys."
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