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Music's most well known power couples
Bettmann/Getty Images

Music's most well known power couples

Couples in bands don't always work out, but most of the time they make for great drama and even better rock music. Some don't even need to be in groups together to make an impact or leave a lasting legacy through their music.

Then there are those who are still going strong, making both their romantic and professional relationships work. Here's a look at some of the top couples in rock from yesterday — and even still today. 

 
1 of 25

Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo

Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo
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What began as a successful working relationship in the late 1970s turned into love for one of rock's most notable female vocalists and her underrated guitarist and producer. The two have been married since 1982 and are still going strong on stage and off. Truly, behind every great woman is a good man.

 
2 of 25

Sonny Bono and Cher

Sonny Bono and Cher
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It might be a stretch to call one of music's most popular couples rock stars, but it was pop rock mixed with a little folk in the early days. The husband and wife duo were also TV stars, and their variety shows were appointment viewing during the 1970s. The fun, and the marriage, ended with their divorce in the mid-'70s, but the legacy of tunes like "I Got You Babe" lives on.

 
3 of 25

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks

Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks
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When Lindsey Buckingham was invited to join Fleetwood Mac, he insisted girlfriend and musical soulmate Stevie Nicks be included. With the two, the band finally enjoyed commercial success with its 1975 self-titled album and two years later off the classic "Rumours." The latter was fueled by songs born from the couple's tumultuous romantic relationship and ultimate breakup. Buckingham's "Go Your Own Way" and Nicks' beautifully emotional "Silver Springs" chronicle each side to their breakup. 

 
4 of 25

Win Butler and Regine Chassagne

Win Butler and Regine Chassagne
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This just might be rock's most powerful couple at the moment. The pair met in Montreal, Butler got her into his band and later they were married. While Butler is the undeniable leader of Arcade Fire, Chassagne is arguably its most versatile musician. While Butler sings lead on most of the group's songs, they blend well together on "Rococo" off 2010's smash "The Suburbs."

 
5 of 25

Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash

Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash
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Yes, this is country music's most famous couple, but Cash's look and attitude were all rock 'n' roll. How they got to each other, romantically, was not without controversy, but their love and marriage lasted parts of five decades. Both died in 2003. One of their earliest recordings, before they were married, was a mid-1960s version of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe."  

 
6 of 25

John Doe and Exene Cervenka

John Doe and Exene Cervenka
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The first couple of the California punk band X, Doe and Cervenka were married from 1980-85, during the early years as one of the most popular outfits on the L.A. punk scene. The pair did most of the writing, and their unique harmonies are what drew fans to the band. It took until the mid-1980s, though, for X to earn some level of mainstream success.

 
7 of 25

Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth

Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth
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The two met, along with fellow Talking Heads co-founder David Byrne, at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design. In addition to their work with the Hall of Fame band, Frantz and Weymouth, who were married in 1977, have enjoyed success with their original side project, Tom Tom Club, a group that still surfaces from time to time. 

 
8 of 25

Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier

Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier
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It's hard to top Stereolab, the U.K. avant-pop/indie rock band spearheaded by former couple Gane and Sadier. Though the band never generated much mainstream success, it was an underground favorite thanks to Gane and Sadier, who were underrated talents, particularly as songwriters. The band has reunited for several 2019 dates, including the annual Pitchfork Festival in Chicago.

 
9 of 25

Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner

Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner
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Their band Mates of State is probably not a household name to the casual indie pop/rock fan, but this husband-wife pairing has been making music since the mid-1990s. They've toured with the likes of Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie and played Lollapalooza while showcasing their synth-fused sound.

 
10 of 25

Debbie Harry and Chris Stein

Debbie Harry and Chris Stein
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Harry was pop rock/punk and new wave's "IT" girl during the second half of the 1970s and into the '80s with Blondie. However, she might not have been without the guidance of guitarist/boyfriend Stein. The couple never married and ultimately split but left quite the legacy with hits "Heart of Glass," Dreaming" and "Rapture."

 
11 of 25

Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull

Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull
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Jagger and late 1960s girlfriend Faithfull were never in a band together, but he and Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards wrote her 1964 hit "As Tears Go By." As legend has it, Faithfull, who endured years of drug problems and went homeless for a stretch, was the inspiration for Stones classics "Sympathy for the Devil," "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Wild Horses."

 
12 of 25

Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley

Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley
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The couple formed the critically acclaimed indie rock-fused Yo La Tango in the mid-1980s. With Kaplan on guitar and Hubley behind the drum kit, the band has enjoyed a strong cult following while not achieving much mainstream success. In 2018, the husband-and-wife-led group put out its 15th studio album and doesn't appear to be finished.

 
13 of 25

John Lennon and Yoko Ono

John Lennon and Yoko Ono
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There was perhaps no more recognizable couple, spanning all genres of music, than John and Yoko. Regardless what the perception of Ono is in regard to the state of the Beatles, she had quite the hold on Lennon. From a music standpoint, they collaborated on several projects, with 1980's "Double Fantasy," released three weeks before Lennon was murdered, being arguably the greatest of their legacy 

 
14 of 25

Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett

Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett
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Former child actors turned rockers, Lewis ("Troop Beverly Hills") and Sennett ("Boy Meets World") were an item when they started indie rock band Rilo Kiley in the late 1990s. The group put out four full-length albums that produced favorites "Portions for Foxes,"  "The Moneymaker" and "Silver Lining," but when Lewis and Sennett split, so did the group. Both continue to make music, with Lewis enjoying solid success as a solo artist whose last album, "On the Line," recently dropped. 

 
15 of 25

Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog

Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog
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Put the first letters of each's first name, and we have ABBA. The Swedish pop-rock sensation was an international success during most of the 1970s and into the '80s. Lyngstad and Andersson were a couple, as were Ulvaeus and Fältskog during the band's heyday. However, fame as pop-rock stars ultimately took its toll on those marriages, which both ended in divorce. The group's darker 1980 hit, "The Winner Takes It All," reportedly stemmed from Ulvaeus and Fältskog's split.

 
16 of 25

Paul and Linda McCartney

Paul and Linda McCartney
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Linda McCartney brought nothing essential to Sir Paul's music and was often ridiculed for her place in his musical life. However, she was truly an inspiration to the man, especially in the wake of the Beatles breakup. Together they put out "Ram"and then formed Wings. "Maybe I'm Amazed," perhaps Paul's biggest solo hit, was dedicated to Linda, who died in 1998 of breast cancer.

 
17 of 25

John and Christine McVie

John and Christine McVie
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Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were the more prominent couple within Fleetwood Mac, but the McVies' contributions to the band really should not be overlooked. John is an original member, while Christine's addition in 1970 added a bluesy element to the group's sound. The popular Fleetwood Mac hit "Don't Stop" was a Christine McVie song about her ex-husband.

 
18 of 25

Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon

Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon
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For years, Moore and Gordon were kind of like the parents of alternative.grunge rock thanks to their contributions with Sonic Youth. Moore's unique guitar work and Gordon's surly yet sometimes sultry vocals have influenced many within the genres. They were a true rock power couple until their divorce in 2013.  

 
19 of 25

John and Michelle Phillips

John and Michelle Phillips
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The co-founders of the Mamas & the Papas and co-writers of its timeless gem, "California Dreamin," seemed to make just as many headlines off the stage as they did on it — some more disturbing, if true, than others. On stage the couple certainly had chemistry, but their marriage lasted just seven years, though the music they made together still lives on.

 
20 of 25

Grace Slick and Paul Kantner

Grace Slick and Paul Kantner
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Slick reportedly made time with most, if not all, of the male members of Jefferson Airplane. But she and Kantner had a special relationship, which produced a child and the leadership faction for the Airplane in the early 1970s. Slick was the face, and most powerful voice, of the Hall of Fame psychedelic outfit, while Kantner, a dictator of sorts, ran the show and eventually led her aboard Jefferson Starship in later years.

 
21 of 25

Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa

Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa
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Scialfa has been a member of the E Street Band since 1984 and married to Springsteen since '91. Her backing vocals and acoustic guitar work have always provided solid depth to Bruce's famed band, but their chemistry, which is unforced, on stage has become a favorite during his live shows for years. 

 
22 of 25

Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal

Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal
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For seven years, No Doubt frontwoman Stefani and bassist Kanal dated. The relationship ended while the band was working on what would become its breakout 1995 "Tragic Kingdom"album. Though the hit "Don't Speak" was penned by Stefani about their breakup, the two actually worked well together in the aftermath of their relationship. As we've come to learn, Stefani likes her musicians, with a marriage to Bush's Gavin Rossdale and current relationship with country star Blake Shelton that followed. 

 
23 of 25

Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein

Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein
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In the early years of highly celebrated punk/indie rock slayers Sleater-Kinney, Tucker and Brownstein, the band's two talented guitarists and vocalists, dated. That news broke in a piece in SpinTheir relationship didn't last, but their breakup was the subject of the song "One More Hour," perhaps the best within the Sleater-Kinney catalog.  

 
24 of 25

Ike and Tina Turner

Ike and Tina Turner
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On stage, Ike and Tina Turner were one of the most powerful and popular R&B and soul acts in the 1960s and into the '70s. Their take on "Proud Mary," particularly Tina's performance, is the stuff legends are made from. However, Ike's growing drug problem led to some well-documented physical abuse of his wife. The couple divorced in 1978 and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1991.

 
25 of 25

Jack and Meg White

Jack and Meg White
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We were confused. Are they brother and sister? Husband and wife? The latter turned out to be true, with Jack taking her last name following their 1996 marriage. The couple, however, divorced in 2000, just before The White Stripes became one of the biggest bands in the world following the release of albums "White Blood Cells" and "Elephant." Thankfully, the demise of their romantic relationship did not hinder their professional one. 

A Chicago native, Jeff Mezydlo has professionally written about sports, entertainment and pop culture for nearly 30 years. If he could do it again, he'd attend Degrassi Junior High, Ampipe High and Grand Lakes University.

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