Anita Baker

Anita Baker

Anita Baker is an American singer from Toledo, Ohio, known for jazz, soul and quiet storm recordings, as well as contemporary R&B, funk and smooth jazz. She is a contralto with a wide vocal range and begins her career in the late 1970s with the funk band Chapter 8.

Early life and beginnings

Born in 1958, Baker is raised in Detroit, Michigan, after being abandoned by her mother in Toledo. She grows up with a foster family, and after her foster parents die when she is twelve, her foster sister raises her. By the time she is sixteen, she is singing R&B in Detroit nightclubs. Bandleader David Washington discovers her and connects her with Chapter 8, which she joins in 1975.

Chapter 8 and first solo recordings

Chapter 8 releases its self-titled debut album in 1979, with the singles “Ready for Your Love” and “I Just Want to Be Your Girl”. After the group is dropped by Arista Records, Baker leaves music for a period before starting a solo career with Beverly Glen Records in 1982. Her first solo album, The Songstress, follows in 1983 and produces four singles: “No More Tears”, “Will You Be Mine”, “Angel” and “You’re the Best Thing Yet”. “Angel” reaches number five on the R&B chart.

Breakthrough and commercial success

Baker moves to Elektra Records and releases Rapture in 1986. The album includes “Watch Your Step”, “Sweet Love”, “Caught Up in the Rapture”, “No One in the World” and “Same Ole Love (365 Days a Year)”. It becomes her breakthrough record, sells more than eight million copies worldwide by 1988, and is promoted through The Rapture Tour and the live release A Night of Rapture. “Sweet Love” wins a Grammy Award, and her collaboration with The Winans on “Ain’t No Need to Worry” also wins a Grammy for Best Soul Gospel Performance by a Duo or Group.

Later albums, awards and label changes

In 1988 she releases Giving You the Best That I Got, which reaches number one on the Billboard 200, sells five million copies worldwide and earns three Grammy Awards. The album includes “Giving You the Best That I Got”, “Just Because” and “Lead Me Into Love”. Compositions follows in 1990 and moves further toward jazz, with singles including “Talk to Me”, “Soul Inspiration” and “Fairy Tales”. She takes a break from recording in the early 1990s to focus on family, then returns with Rhythm of Love in 1994, which includes “Body and Soul” and “I Apologize”; the latter wins her a Grammy. She tours in support of the album from December 1994 to November 1995.

Baker transfers to Atlantic Records in 1996. During a later break from recording, she files a lawsuit against Zomba Recording in 2001 and is released from Atlantic later that year. Rhino Records issues The Best of Anita Baker, titled Sweet Love: The Very Best of Anita Baker in the UK, in 2002.

Live performances, later work and recognition

Baker resumes live performances in 2004 and releases My Everything, which reaches number four on the Billboard 200 and is certified Gold. In 2005 she releases Christmas Fantasy, which includes the Grammy-nominated “Christmas Time Is Here”. She receives an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music in 2005. From 2007 to 2009 she tours with An Evening with Anita Baker.

She works on new music from 2010 and releases singles including “Only Forever” and a cover of “Lately” in 2012. “Lately” is nominated for Best R&B Performance at the Grammys. In 2017 she confirms her retirement, but returns to music in 2018. In 2021 she resolves a dispute with Elektra Records over the rights to her master recordings and regains ownership. She performs “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 2022 NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranks her number 92 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Recordings and accolades

Baker receives eight Grammy Awards and has four Platinum albums and two Gold albums. Her studio albums are The Songstress (1983), Rapture (1986), Giving You the Best That I Got (1988), Compositions (1990), Rhythm of Love (1994), My Everything (2004) and Christmas Fantasy (2005). She is associated with All Baker’s Music.