Anita Baker

See all 47 pictures

Play Radio

Listen to Anita Baker Radio, featuring artists like Luther Vandross, Patti LaBelle, Phyllis Hyman, Teena Marie and more…

• 
  Search on Spotify

  Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more

1,684,846 plays (244,280 listeners)
In your library (0 plays)

Shop now at Amazon | Send Anita Baker Ringtones to Cell

More options

• Download
• Amazon
• Send Ringtones to Cell
• Tonefuse Search

Add to my Library

Anita Baker (born January 26, 1958, in Toledo, Ohio) is a soul and adult contemporary Rhythm and blues singer.

With her classy, refined brand of romantic soul, Anita Baker was one of the definitive quiet storm singers of the ’80s. Gifted with a strong, supple alto, Baker was influenced not only by R&B, but jazz, gospel, and traditional pop, which gave her music a distinctly adult sophistication. Smooth and mellow, but hardly lifeless, it made her one of the most popular romantic singers of her time.

Baker was born January 26, 1958, in Toledo, OH, and raised in nearby Detroit, where she grew up listening to female jazz singers like Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, and Ella Fitzgerald. At age 12, she began singing a gospel choir, and by age 16 she was performing with several local bands. In 1975, she successfully auditioned for Chapter 8, one of Detroit’s most popular acts at the time; the group eventually signed with Ariola and released an album in 1979, but were immediately dropped when the label was acquired by Arista (which didn’t care for Baker’s vocals). Chastened, Baker worked low-paying jobs in Detroit and eventually found steady work as a receptionist at a law firm. In 1982, Otis Smith — an executive who’d worked with Chapter 8 — contacted Baker about recording for his new label Beverly Glen. Happy with her employment benefits and skittish over the experience with Arista, Baker was reluctant at first, but eventually flew out to the West Coast to record her debut album, The Songstress, in 1983.

Read more… Edit

Popular tags: soul, female vocalists, jazz, smooth jazz, rnb  See more

Shouts: 147 shouts

Share this artist:

• Send
• Tweet

Top Albums

• Sweet Love: The Very Best of Anita Baker
  Anita Baker

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon Search
  • eBay Search
• A Night of Rapture Live
  Anita Baker

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon Search
  • eBay Search
• Giving You the Best That I Got
  Anita Baker

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 $7.92
  • 7digital $8.99
  • iTunes $7.99
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $3.00
  • eBay Search
• Rapture
  Anita Baker

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 $7.92
  • 7digital $9.99
  • iTunes $8.99
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $8.23
  • eBay Search