The United States' first interracial love song

Today we take them for granted, but in the 1960s interracial duets were almost unheard of. Diane Bernard explores the forgotten story of Storybook Children, the taboo-busting song that became a hit.

In May of 1968, just a few weeks after Martin Luther King Jr's assassination, singing duo Billy Vera and Judy Clay entered the Apollo Theater in Harlem, then an all-black neighbourhood of New York. Vera had teamed up with gospel-and-soul diva Clay to sing their new hit love song, Storybook Children. When Apollo announcer Honi Coles saw the couple, he said to Billy Vera, "The Apollo hasn't seen you before," Vera tells BBC Culture.

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Ever the showman, Coles told the couple to stand on opposite ends of the Apollo's storied stage. Judy came out first on the right, her floor-length cream-coloured gown shimmering under a spotlight. Then, the left spotlight shone on Vera as he stepped forward in an olive-green mohair suit and tie. When the audience saw the young white man, the entire auditorium gasped in shock. "That's him? That skinny little white boy">window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'alternating-thumbnails-a', container: 'taboola-below-article', placement: 'Below Article', target_type: 'mix' });