Skip & Flip
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Skip & Flip was a U.S. pop duo, Skip Battin (b. Clyde Battin, February 18, 1934, Gallipolis, Ohio, USA, d. July 6, 2003, Salem, Oregon, USA) and Flip aka Gary S. Paxton (b. Mesa, Arizona, USA), met while attending the University of Arizona in the late 1950s. Once known as the Rockabillies, they recorded on Rev as the Pledges and then as Gary & Clyde. Time Records picked up their Rev master, "Why Not Confess"/"Johnny Risk", and then moved them to its Brent label, under the name Skip And Flip. Their recording of Paxton's song "It Was I" entered the US Top 20 in 1959 and the follow-up, "Fancy Nancy", also charted. Their next release, a revival of Marvin And Johnny's R&B hit "Cherry Pie" made the Top 20 but proved to be their last chart entry together.
Paxton went on to record under several names (including the Hollywood Argyles, who topped the charts in 1960 with the novelty number "Alley-Oop") for many labels. He also had hits as a producer and label owner, including the two-time charter "Monster Mash", by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. Paxton later opened the Bakersfield International label in the mid-1960s attempting to cash in on the Bakersfield sound, recording out of a converted Flxible Flyer bus in which he built a mobile 8-track studio, working with a number of musicians including several who later went on to play in the Byrds and other country rock acts of the era, including the Reasons (aka Nashville West, featuring Gene Parsons, Clarence White, Gib Gilbeau, and Wayne Moore), the Gosdin Brothers, and Dennis Payne. Many of these sessions ended up on low budget releases and exploitative covers albums, such as Guitar Country on Jasico, by "Bakersfield's Big Guitars." It would appear that Paxton sold these sessions to other labels to finance projects closer to his own heart. Paxton moved to Nashville in the early 1970s, recorded several country albums under his own name, and is now a noted personality in the gospel music world.
Battin recorded on Indigo, May, Groove, Audicon and Signpost and played in Evergreen Blueshoes, the Byrds, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, and the Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as session work with a wide variety of artists.
