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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBAKER, LaVern(b Delores Williams, 11 November 1929, Chicago; d 10 March 1997) R&B singer; her aunts were said to have included Memphis Minnie and Merline Johnson, famous as the 'Yas Yas Girl' during the 1920s. Spotted by Fletcher Henderson at the Club de Lisa and helped by Nat King Cole, she began singing as 'Little Miss Sharecropper'. Signed to Columbia, she recorded for OKeh; then for King with the Todd Rhodes band ('Trying'/'Pig Latin Blues' '52), and toured Europe; signed to Atlantic she had 15 R&B hits '55-65 including eight top tens; 18 Hot 100 pop entries during the same period included several two-sided hits. 'Tweedle-Dee' '55 (no. 4 R&B, no. 14 pop) was beaten in the pop chart by Georgia Gibbs's cover (no. 2; also covered by Frankie Vaughan in UK); 'I Cried A Tear' '58 (no. 2 R&B, no. 6 pop) was her only top ten pop entry; 'Jim Dandy' (no. 3 R&B, no. 17 pop) her only other top 20. She also had minor duet hits with Jimmy Ricks ('You're The Boss' '61; Ricks d 2 July 1974), Jackie Wilson ('Think Twice' '66 on Brunswick). 'Whipper Snapper' '57 and 'Saved' '60 were written by Leiber and Stoller, the latter with Phil Spector on guitar. She made album Sings Bessie Smith '58 on Atlantic; Live In Hollywood later on Rhino; she also appeared in a couple of Alan Freed's rock'n'roll movies. She recorded with the Ray Ellis orchestra in '62. When her career faded she went to live in the Philippines and became entertainment director at the Subic Bay military base; invited to appear at the Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary show '88 in NYC, she stole the show. She sang 'Slow Rollin' Mama' on the soundtrack of Dick Tracy '90 and followed Ruth Brown in the Broadway musical Black And Blue. When Subic Bay closed '92 she returned to NYC permanently and replaced Anita O'Day at Michael's Pub at short notice. An album Woke Up This Morning '91 on DRG included Randy Brecker, Cornell Dupree, and Bernard Purdie on drums. A diabetic, she had both legs amputated '94. She is said to have taught Johnnie Ray how to emote on his first big hits; she had a profound influence on pop music and was one of those who suffered most from being covered by white artists in early days of rock'n'roll. Engineer Tom Dowd told the famous story about LaVern's trip to Australia with an R&B show: she went to the insurance machine, took out a hundred thousand dollar policy on herself, and sent it to Georgia Gibbs with a note saying, 'Georgia, you need this more than I do, because if anything happens to me, you're out of business.' She wrote to her congressman about the cover records; she did not object to the songs being covered, but to the arrangements being copied note for note: her own records would have done better in the pop chart had it not been for that. |