Improve.com- Anita Baker

In early 2012, Improve.com commissioned me to write biographies of musicians ranging from the sixties to the nineties. Here is the article I wrote on Anita Baker.

Eighties Rock Musicians: Anita Baker (5444) Keywords: American Jazz Singers, African-American Female Singers, American Soul Singers, Female Jazz Singers It was Anita Baker’s immensely admired song, “Sweet Love”, released in 1986, that brought her the first hit single. The song placed at #2 on the Billboard R&B charts, and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at #13 in the United Kingdom. The single was from her album “Rapture”. “Rapture” was Baker’s 2nd album and became her breakthrough album. She won two Grammy Awards for the album and the album has been placed on Rolling Stone magazine’s 100 Greatest Albums of the 80’s. Between 1983 and 2005, Anita Baker released seven studio albums, including; “The Songstress” “Rapture” “Giving You the Best That I Got” “Compositions” “Rhythm of Love” “My Everything” and “Christmas Fantasy” She has been nominated for sixteen Grammy Awards and won eight times in categories such as; Best Rhythm and Blues Song, Best Rhythm and Blues Vocal Performance, Female, and Best Rhythm and Blues Song. She has taken some time for hiatus throughout the years of her musical career to focus on family and other ventures. However, she has appeared in a variety of public performances into the present day. Most notably was an appearance in 2010, where Baker sang the National Anthem. The performance took place at the NBA Finals and a host of harsh censures and disapproving criticisms took place. Beyond the criticism, Anita Baker is one of the most sophisticated, smooth, and tasteful voices to come out of the decade of the eighties. She was and is known as one of the soft storm singers that defined the eighties decade. She is one of the most admired and gifted love singers of all time. Her style was derived from voices like Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, and Sarah Vaughan and her smooth and soulful sound impacted the music industry beyond her generation. One of her signature songs, “Body and Soul” cements that fact. The Editors of IMPROVE.Com recommend the following TOP FIVE resources to improve your knowledge of Anita Baker: 1. http://www.anitabaker.com/ 2. http://www.biography.com/people/anita-baker-40104 3. http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/anita-baker-biography/e90232b5b89e2bc448256dd8002a0200 4. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1179722/bio 5. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/anita-baker-p3616