From 'He's a Rebel' to 'Age of Aquarius: Darlene Love, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. co-headline Long Island show

You don't have to be a star, baby, to go see their show: The duo of Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. and equally iconic co-headliner Darlene Love perform in a joint concert Friday at the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts. Tickets are on sale at Ovationtix.com.

"Our agent got us together since it seemed like it would be a nice package," explains Davis, 85, by phone from his and wife McCoo's home in Beverly Hills. "And we thought so, too, because we know Darlene but we've never worked with her."

"We come from the same school," says Love, 82, in a separate call from her home in Rockland County, referring to both acts' emergence in Los Angeles' early- to mid-1960s music scene. Love scored a No. 1 single with "He's a Rebel" (1962, a solo effort released under the group name The Crystals — long story), while McCoo and Davis each won six Grammy Awards as part of The 5th Dimension for "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" and "Up, Up And Away" before taking a seventh as a duo for 1976's "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)."

"We knew one another's producers and I knew them when they were in a group," Love continues, "but we never had any dealings with one another" professionally. "And it is such a thrill to be at this time of our lives working together and still in good shape and in good health."

None of them are strangers to Long Island. McCoo and Davis, dubbed "the first couple of pop and soul" by no less an entity than famed producer-musician Questlove, performed at Long Island University's Tilles Center in Brookville in December 2022, and all three have appeared multiple times at the venue now known as Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair.

"As a matter of fact," remembers Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Love, whose 66-year career has included ups and down chronicled in the Oscar-winning documentary "20 Feet from Stardom," "I was a backup singer for Dionne Warwick there, and a backup singer for Tom Jones" before, eventually, "I turned around and worked there by myself as a solo act."

At the Patchogue show, "People will hear the music they're hoping to hear," says McCoo, 80, including her and Davis’ 1960s singles but also songs from their 2021 album of Beatles covers, "Blackbird." Love's repertoire includes "He's Sure the Boy I Love," "Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts" and "My Heart Beat a Little Faster."

The two acts likely won't sing together at the show. "Since we're on different sides of the country, it's hard to put some things together” and carve time and space for a rehearsal, says Davis. Adds McCoo, "We had thought about it, wondering if there might be a chance to do that, but everybody's so busy that that may not happen. But we're really looking forward to seeing her and hearing her"