What Happened? Anita Baker

Anita Baker

The facts of her early life are far from clear; most have been supplied by Baker herself in interviews that sometimes contradict one another. She was born in 1957 Toledo, Ohio, perhaps on January 26 or December 20, and grew up in Detroit's inner city. Her birth mother, who was only 16 when Anita was born, abandoned her, leaving her in the care of a woman who has been variously described as a friend and as a relative; this woman, Mary Lewis, became her foster mother. When Anita was 13, her foster mother died, and an older sister in her adoptive family told her the truth about her past. This older adoptive sister, Lois Landry, raised Anita.

In 1975, Baker (Contralto) joined the Detroit-based band, Chapter 8, which also featured Michael J. Powell. Chapter 8 toured widely and landed a contract with Los Angeles-based Ariola Records.  The band eventually got a record deal with Ariola, and their self-titled debut Chapter 8 came out in Fall 1979. Two singles hit the R&B charts: "Ready for Your Love," a duet between Baker and group member Gerald Lyles; and the Baker-led "I Just Wanna Be Your Girl." The album sold well in mid-west, mostly in the Detroit area. They had a minor hit with "I Just Want to Be Your Girl" in 1980, but disbanded after being dropped from the label, which was itself in dire financial straits. Label executives offered the assessment that Baker lacked star quality. Later on Baker correctly concluded that their criticism could have masked any number of reasons that might through no fault of their own led to the group's dismissal, but at the time she was shattered by the turn of events. She returned to Detroit, worked as a waitress, and then landed a stable position as a receptionist with a law firm whose members, understandably enough, liked the sound of her voice on the phone

Ariola Records was bought by Arista Records. Chapter 8 were subsequently dropped from the label roster.

In 1982 Baker was coaxed back into the music business by a former Ariola executive who started an independent label called Beverly Glen. Promising to make Baker a star, he offered to match her receptionist's salary, and Baker finally agreed to come to Los Angeles. Her first solo album, The Songstress, was released in 1983. The album attracted wide industry attention, yielded two R&B hit singles (the sultry "Angel" and the gospel-drenched "No More Tears," which did indeed bring to mind the voice of Mahalia Jackson), and sold a respectable 300,000 copies. But Baker, still un-schooled in the frequently unscrupulous ways of the music business, received no royalties from the album and parted ways acrimoniously with Beverly Glen, a much-needed follow-up album still

Anita Baker moved from Detroit to Las Angeles, where she worked as a receptionist. She was approached by Patrick Moten and Otis Smith to record new material. She declined several times until she was assured she would continue to receive her salary rate. The album The Songtress was released on the small independent label Beverly Glen Records in 1979. The album was initially not a success, but featured the moderate R&B hit "Angel".

She released her second album, Rapture, in 1986. Produced by her friend Michael J. Powell (from the Detroit soul band Chapter 8), Baker wrote several tracks for the album herself including "Been So Long" and "Watch Your Step", and co-wrote the single "Sweet Love" which became her first mainstream hit; it peaked at number eight on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, number two on the U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, also making the Top 20 in the United Kingdom. "Caught Up in the Rapture", "No One in the World", and "Same Ole Love" also became major R&B and adult contemporary chart hits during 1986 and 1987. Rapture remains Baker's biggest-selling album and went on to sell nearly eight million copies worldwide. It also earned Baker two Grammy Awards in 1987: Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for the album and Best Rhythm & Blues Song for "Sweet Love.

In 1987, Baker collaborated with The Winans on the single "Ain't No Need to Worry", which earned Baker her third Grammy Award the following year, in the Best Soul Gospel Performance by a Duo or Group, Choir or Chorus category.

After one Detroit nightclub gig, Baker was greeted on her way to her dressing room by a persistent admirer who bought six copies of her album and asked her for a hug and then a date. She and this fan, Walter Bridgforth, were married on Christmas Eve of 1988.

Baker's third album, Giving You the Best That I Got, was released in October 1988. She again worked with Powell, and the album became a critical and commercial success, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart and selling five million copies worldwide (including three million in the U.S. alone). It featured such hits as "Just Because" and the title track, which became Baker's biggest pop hit, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 while topping both the R&B and adult contemporary charts. The album also won three more Grammy awards.

Baker returned to the studio in 1990 for her fourth album (her third for Elektra), entitled Compositions. Once again produced by Powell, this time Baker became more involved in the songwriting and production process and began to experiment with jazz influences. Baker wrote or co-wrote seven of the nine songs on the album, including the hits "Talk to Me", "Fairy Tales", "No One to Blame", and "Whatever It Takes" (written with Gerald Levert). The album was mostly cut "live", in that the rhythm section was playing as Baker sang. The album included musicians Greg Phillinganes, Nathan East, Paulinho da Costa, Vernon Fails, Ricky Lawson, and Stephen Ferrone.

The three singles from Compositions all failed to reach the top forty of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart ("Talk to Me" came closest peaking at number forty-four). The singles became top twenty hits on the R&B singles chart and were also moderate adult contemporary hits. Compositions peaked at number five on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, number three on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and number four on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for one million units sold in the US. The album also earned Baker her seventh Grammy Award and her fourth in the category of Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (a category that she had won four times during five awards ceremonies between 1987 - 1991).

Following Compositions, Elektra Records secured the rights to Baker's debut album The Songstress from 1983, and re-released it with a new cover artwork in 1991.

After almost five years of touring, performing, and recording, Baker took a break, only entering the studio to record the jazz standard "Witchcraft" with Frank Sinatra for his 1993 Duets album.

Walter Baker Bridgforth (born January 1993) and Edward Carlton Bridgforth (born May 1994).

Baker's fifth album, Rhythm of Love, was issued in September 1994. After ending her production partnership with Powell, Baker produced most of the album herself along with many famous producers such as George Duke, Arif Mardin, Barry J. Eastmond, and Tommy LiPuma. Rhythm of Love was mainly recorded at Baker's home due to her pregnancy at the time, and she wrote five of the album's twelve songs. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number three on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and eventually being certified double platinum by the RIAA. The first single, "Body and Soul", became Baker's first US top forty hit in over five years. Baker won the award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for the single "I Apologize" at the 1996 Grammy Awards, her fifth Grammy Award in this category and her eighth overall. Baker embarked on the Rhythm of Love World Tour in support of the album, on December 14, 1994 to November 14, 1995.

After Rhythm of Love, Baker largely withdrew from the public eye for many years to dedicate time to her new family.

Anita Baker succeeded where other artists have failed in an unprecedented move which allows her to transfer from her former record company Elektra Entertainment prior to the expiration to Atlantic. The historic transfer marks the first time that any artist in the United States has successfully executed a lateral exit move from a record company.

Baker, signed a new Atlantic Records recording contract, a multi-million dollar package, on September 5, 1996, in Detroit with Atlantic representatives arriving at her attorney Gregory J. Reed's office. Baker had been unhappy with Elektra's promotion of her last album "Rhythm of Love," Baker signed a five album deal with Atlantic although the recording company originally sought a nine album contract.

Baker signed a deal to produce an album with Atlantic, but she could never finish the job. It seems that she had more important things on her mind, for Baker had made the decision that she would not repeat the mistakes of her own mother and was giving more and more of her time to taking care of her children. "My grandmother gave up my mother, and my mother gave me up," Baker told People. "I just wanted to stop any hint of that cycle." For the next ten years, Baker played the role of mom, joining the local PTA and shuttling her kids to school activities. She also nursed her foster parents, Walter and Lois Landry, through the last years of their lives.

Atlantic dropped her. "Luckily Anita owns all her songs," said Reed, "so she's never had to change her style of living. She wanted to come back to recording but these things in her personal life took up her time."

While recording several songs, Anita discovered that there was what she claimed to be a "popping" noise on the songs. She sued Zomba Recording Studios for $500,000 reimbursement. Settlement papers were drawn up, but Baker wouldn’t sign them, and now the case is pending again.

By the early 2000s Baker realized that with her kids needing less attention than before and the Landrys gone, she once again had time to devote to her music. She gave several small concerts in the Detroit area and was overwhelmed by the positive response of her fans. Soon her bookings grew and she signed with Blue Note to record two albums. The first album, My Everything, was released in 2004, and its title track soon soared to the top of the charts. To most critics, it appeared that Baker picked up right where she left off, providing soulful R&B in a sultry voice that was unmatched in the business. Ever the perfectionist, Baker insisted on complete control over the album and on not being pressured to tour too much. "I only work two days a week, so I'm not away from the boys and my husband too much," she told Newsweek. "And my record company so got it and so understood that. I had to learn to prioritize my life, because I have been the woman who tried to do everything, and I was miserable." With its life-affirming tracks, My Everything is a clear indication that Anita Baker is happy to be back.

In June 2002, Rhino Records released The Best of Anita Baker (known as Sweet Love: The Very Best of Anita Baker in the UK, with a slightly different track listing), a compilation of Baker's material from 1983–2002.

Two years later, in March 2004, Blue Note Records announced that they had signed Baker to an exclusive recording contract that would result in at least two new albums. Bruce Lundvall, president and CEO of EMI Jazz & Classics, signed her after she approached him to record for Blue Note. At the same time Rhino Records released A Night of Rapture: Live, a compilation that contained nine live tracks and three multimedia videos recorded in the 1980s.

In September 2004, a decade after her last studio album, Baker released a new album, entitled My Everything. Co-produced by Barry J. Eastmond and Baker herself, she wrote or co-wrote nine of this album's ten tracks, including a duet with Babyface, "Like You Used to Do". Though she had been out of the limelight for some considerable time, the album was still moderately successful, peaking at number four on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The album was certified gold by the RIAA, in the US.

In October 2005, Baker released her first Christmas album, Christmas Fantasy. Again produced by Baker and Eastmond, the album mixed traditional Christmas carols ("God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen"), standards ("I'll Be Home for Christmas"), re-imagined classics ("Frosty's Rag"), Broadway show tunes ("My Favorite Things"), and three new songs by Baker and Eastmond ("Moonlight Sleighride", "Family of Man", and "Christmas Fantasy"). She received a Grammy Award nomination in 2007 for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for the song "Christmas Time Is Here", although she did not win.

In 2007, Baker appeared on Dave Koz's album At the Movies. She sang "Somewhere" from the Broadway musical West Side Story.

As of October 2007 they were finalizing their divorce.

Baker embarked on a concert tour in 2008, entitled An Evening with Anita Baker. Her performance at DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan, on July 12, 2008, was recorded and Baker announced plans to release a new DVD and/or CD live album in early 2009.

On September 19, 2008, BusyBoy Productions filmed her entire An Evening with Anita Baker concert at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota, for Baker's up-and-coming DVD and B-roll footage for promotional purposes.

Baker was scheduled to release her seventh studio album in 2010, entitled 21st Century Love, on Blue Note Records/EMI However, the album has yet to surface.

February 27, 2010.  Anita Baker ducks jail over royalties, she and her lawyers were able to reach an agreement with her ex-husband's attorney to create a process that eventually will decide how much Walter Bridgforth is owed in music royalties as part of the couple's divorce settlement.

 Soul Train Music Awards gave Anita Baker with its living legend award in 2010.

Anita Baker performs with Mary J. Blige on the 2011 Bet Awards.

Baker was scheduled to perform at VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul taped December 18 2011: she was to sing "Sweet Love" during a salute to Detroit R&B music. However Baker dropped out of the show at the last minute: Baker attributed her leaving the show to its producers refusing to allow her to properly rehearse her number with the other Divas performers who'd be singing with her - presumably Marsha Ambrosius and Ledisi who performed "Sweet Love" on the finalized Divas 2011 broadcast.