Anita Baker (born January 26, 1958 is an eight-time Grammy Award-winning, multi-Platinum rhythm and blues and soul singer and songwriter, renowned for her soaring alto vocal range.
In 1981, Otis Smith, the man behind Chapter 8's contract, formed his own label Beverly Glen. Remembering Baker's vocals, he got her telephone number from a Chapter 8 member and called her in late 1982. Baker refused the job at first due to her duties as a receptionist. However, she agreed to sign with the label and try again with a music career. In 1983, Baker released her debut album The Songstress.
Three of the album's singles, "Angel", "You're the Best Thing Yet" and "No More Tears", became smash hits on the R&B charts. By the spring of 1984, Baker had five chart hits and was close to a gold record.
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1986 - 1989: The critical and commercial success
In 1985, Baker got a major label contract with Elektra Records, a division of Warner Music Group. She released her second album, Rapture in 1986, produced by her friend from Chapter 8, Michael J. Powell This album reafforded her the opportunity to stretch her skills; she wrote "Been So Long", "Watch Your Step" and "Sweet Love". "Sweet Love", "Caught Up In the Rapture", "No One In The World", and "Same Ole Love" became major R&B and Adult Contemporary chart hits during 1986 and 1987, with "Sweet Love" becoming a top ten pop hit as well. By the time "Rapture" had completed its chart run, it had sold 8 million copies worldwide and also earned Baker two Grammys.
In November 1986 when she was returning to Detroit to receive the key of the city, she got engaged to Walter Bridgeforth Jr. whom she'd met on an earlier trip home in January. They were married on Christmas Eve 1987.
In 1987, Baker collaborated with The Winans on the single "Ain't No Need To Worry" and this single led Baker to her third Grammy award. At the same time, she also worked on her follow-up album Giving You The Best That I Got in between a busy performance schedule. This album was released in October 1988. She worked with Michael J. Powell again, and the album became a critical and commercial success, which sold another 5 million copies worldwide. It features such hits as "Just Because" and the title track, which became Baker's biggest pop hit, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 while going to number one R&B and Adult Contemporary. Critics noted that, single-handedly, through her first three albums, "Anita Baker has set a new standard and helped redefine the sound of contemporary music recorded by female vocalists in the '80s and the '90s."
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Compositions
Baker returned to the studio in 1990 for her third Elektra album Compositions. On it, Anita wanted to be more involved in song writing and wished to experiment with jazz. Baker wrote seven of the songs on this album, including the hits "Talk to Me", "Fairy Tales", "No One To Blame", and "Whatever It Takes" (written with Gerald Levert) and "Soul Inspiration". The album was mostly cut live, meaning that the rhythm section was playing as Baker sang. The album was produced by Michael J. Powell and included musicians Greg Philinganes, Nathan East, Paulinho da Costa, Vernon Fails, Ricky Lawson and Stephen Ferrone. Baker's involvement in the whole recording process gave the album a personal touch and for the effort she received her 7th Grammy award.
Though the three singles from Compositions all failed to reach Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart ("Talk to Me" came closest to the top 40, at #44 pop), they still became Top 20 hits on the R&B Singles Chart and were also moderate Adult Contemporary hits. Compositions peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, #3 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, #4 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums, and still was certified Platinum by RIAA.
After almost five years of touring, performing, and recording non-stop, Anita took a break, only entering the studio to record the jazz standard "Witchcraft" with Frank Sinatra for his 1993 Duets album.
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Rhythm of Love
Her fifth album, Rhythm of Love, was issued in September 1994. After she ended the partnership with Michael J. Powell, Anita produced most of the album. However, this time many famous producers like George Duke, Arif Mardin, Barry J. Eastmond and Tommy LiPuma also contributed to the album. Rhythm Of Love was mainly recorded in Baker's home due to her pregnancy, and she wrote 5 out of 12 songs. She selected "My Funny Valentine" to be the last song, a song that proves that Anita should do an all jazz album in many fans' opinion.
This album sold exceptionally well selling 1-million copies in its first week; peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and #1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The first single, "Body and Soul," became Baker's first top 40 pop hit in over five years. It was certified double platinum by RIAA and received her 8th Grammy for the second single "I Apologize" for best R and B vocal performance female in 1995.
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Turned back home with family
After the Rhythm Of Love album, Baker spent most of her time with her family. She appeared in a jazz-influenced soundtrack to the Billy Crystal directed 1995 film Forget Paris. For this movie, Baker paired with popular Pop/R&B crooner James Ingram to record "When You Love Someone", which is produced by David Foster, and was also written with Foster, Carole Bayer Sager and Ingram. The song was nominated for a Grammy award however lost out in its category. She also recorded the theme song to the NBC television hit show "Mad About You" with its star Paul Riser. The vocal performance of the shows theme was jazzy and slower than the original. The song was put on a "Mad About You" CD which may still be purchaseable. She also did a jingle for a Cadillac commercial "making whoopee" for the Cadillac at that time. In 1998 she returned to the studio to record "Summertime" and "My Favorite Things" for Cyrus Chestnut's self titled album released in 1998.
[edit] Back to music industry
In May of 2002, Atlantic/Rhino Records released "Sweet Love: The Very Best of Anita Baker" in the U.K. A month later in June of 2002, Atlantic/Rhino Records released "The Best of Anita Baker" in the United States. However, some tracks were not included on the U.S. version that were included with the United Kingdom version. The tracks that were not included were: "Soul Inspiration", "Rhythm of Love", "When You Love Someone", and "Good Enough". Some tracks were included on the United States version that were not on the U.K. version. The tracks that were not included on the U.K. version were: "You're The Best Thing Yet", "Good Love", and "It's Been You".
Two years later, in March 2004, Blue Note Records announced that they had signed Baker to an exclusive recording contract that would result in at least two albums. Bruce Lundvall, president/CEO of EMI Jazz & Classics, signed her after she approached him to record for Blue Note. At the same time Rhino Records released A Night Of Rapture: Live, a compilation that contains nine live tracks and three multimedia videos recorded in the late 1980s.
In September, after a decade, Anita Baker finally released her long-awaited original album My Everything. Co-Produced by Barry J. Eastmond and Baker herself, she wrote or co-wrote nine of this album's 10 tracks, including a duet with Babyface, "Like You Used To Do." Though she had been out of the limelight for so long, this album became a critical and commercial success. It debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart and #1 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The album was certified gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 copies.
In October 2005, she released her first Christmas album, Christmas Fantasy. Once again produced by Baker and Barry J. Eastmond, the album mixes traditional Christmas carols ("God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen"), standards ("I'll Be Home for Christmas"), re-imagined classics ("Frosty's Rag"), Broadway show tunes ("My Favorite Things"), and three new songs by Baker and Eastmond ("Moonlight Sleighride", "Family of Man", and "Christmas Fantasy"). She received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance in 2007 for the song "Christmas Time Is Here." To date, Baker has four Platinum albums and three Gold albums.
In 2007, Anita Baker appeared on Dave Koz's album, At The Movies. She sang "Somewhere" from the broadway musical, West Side Story.
Anita Baker is currently touring during summers and weekends, to accommodate her sons' (Walter Jr. & Eddie) school schedule. During her July 12, 2008 performance at DTE Energy Music Theater, Anita Baker stated they were recording that performance and were going to release a new DVD and CD Live Collection that will be released in early 2009. In 1988, Anita Baker released A Night of Rapture: Live on VHS, it was re-released in June of 2007 on a DVD format.
