When he was 6 years old and studying piano at the Juilliard School, Teicher met another piano student, Arthur Ferrante, then 9. They became best friends.
“Although we were two individuals, at the twin pianos our brains worked as one,” Ferrante said. They played together their entire careers as Ferrante and Teicher, starting in 1947. Their innovative style led to many TV appearances, including on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show, but their big break came in 1960, when they recorded the theme to the film The Apartment. The resulting single was their first million-selling record.
They quickly followed up with the theme to Exodus, which sold 6.5 million copies. Before the duo retired in 1989 they made 150 albums — and 22 went gold or platinum (the last of which was the theme to 1969’s Midnight Cowboy). Meanwhile they continued to tour, playing more than 5,000 concerts, which were usually booked two or three years in advance. Teicher died August 3 from heart failure. He was 83.
Update: Ferrante died 19 September 2009, 12 days after he turned 88.