The album produced four singles: 'No More Tears' and its B-side, 'Will You Be Mine', 'Angel' and 'You're the Best Thing Yet'.

JSTOR ( June 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)īaker released her debut solo album, The Songstress, in May 1983.

Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This section needs additional citations for verification. 1983–89: The Songstress, Rapture and Giving You the Best That I Got The group's first album, Chapter 8, was released that year and featured the singles ' Ready for Your Love', a duet between Baker and bandmate Gerald Lyles, and the Baker-led 'I Just Want to Be Your Girl.' After Ariola was bought out by Arista Records in 1979, Chapter 8 was dropped by the label who were convinced that Baker, as the group's lead singer, didn't have 'star potential.' Baker returned to Detroit, working as a waitress and a receptionist until, in 1982, Otis Smith, a former associate of Ariola, convinced Baker to start a solo career under his Beverly Glen label.

īaker joined Chapter 8 in 1975 and the group toured until securing a deal with Ariola Records in 1979. After one performance, she was discovered by bandleader David Washington, who gave her a card to audition for the funk band, Chapter 8. By the time Baker was 16, she began singing R&B at Detroit nightclubs.

When Baker was 12, her foster parents died and her foster sister raised her afterwards. When she was two, her mother abandoned her and Baker was raised by a foster family in Detroit, Michigan. Life and music career 1958–79: Early life, career beginnings and Chapter 8 Īnita Baker was born on January 26, 1958, in Toledo, Ohio. Baker is a contralto with a range of nearly three octaves. As of 2017, Baker has won eight Grammy Awards and has four Platinum albums, along with two Gold albums. In 1986, she rose to stardom following the release of her Platinum-selling second album, Rapture, which included the Grammy-winning single ' Sweet Love'. Starting her career in the late 1970s with the funk band Chapter 8, Baker released her first solo album, The Songstress, in 1983. She is one of the most popular singers of soulful ballads, especially renowned for her work during the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s.

Anita Denise Baker (born January 26, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter.

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