From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Nov 11, 2002  6:16 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : LaVern Baker
 
LAVERN BAKER (By Shaun Mather)

Born Delores Williams, 11 November 1929, Chicago, Illinois
Died 10 March 1997, Manhattan, New York City, New York

Long before Britney and Shania, there was a breed of real sassy divas who
not only looked good but could sing a bit as well. Top of the tree were Ruth
Brown and LaVern Baker. A bit like Gene Vincent, Lavern's most famous
song (Tweedlee Dee) was a long way from her best.
Born Delores Williams, she began singing in Chicago's south side clubs at
the tender age of 17. She adopted the gimmick of dressing like a bumpkin
and calling herself "Little Miss Sharecropper". She used this moniker when
she made her recording debut for RCA Victor with Eddie "Sugarman" Penigar's
band in 1949. When she recorded for Okeh in 1951 with Maurice King's
Wolverines, she changed her name briefly to Bea Baker. She finally arrived
at LaVern when she joined Todd Rhodes' band as featured vocalist in 1952.

LaVern signed with Atlantic in 1953, debuting impressively with "Soul on
Fire." But it was not until 1955 that she really smashed with the childlike
Latinesque "Tweedlee Dee" which hit on both the R&B (# 4) and pop charts
(# 14). She was usurped however by a bleached version from Georgia Gibbs
on Mercury. Baker was so pissed she filed suit against Gibbs but not
surprisingly lost. She continued to sell though and scored further successes
with the likes of "Bop-Ting-A-Ling," "Play It Fair," "Still," and the great
rocker
"Jim Dandy", a driving number that stands with the best R&B of the time.

With her raunchy voice and hour-glass figure she was made for looking as
well as listening, so it was no surprise that she got to appear on the Ed
Sullivan show in November 1955 as well as slots in the movies Rock, Rock,
Rock and Mr. Rock & Roll. Further hits came with "I Cried a Tear" (her only
pop Top 10 hit, # 6) and "Saved" before she left Atlantic in 1964. She moved
to Brunswick Records where she did a sassy duet with Jackie Wilson called
"Think Twice". A late-'60s spell entertaining the troops in Vietnam left her
seriously ill. She settled for a quiet life in the Philippines where she stayed
for 22 years before returning stateside in 1988 to star in Atlantic's 40th
anniversary bash at New York's Madison Square Garden. She performed on
the Dick Tracy soundtrack album and got a starring role in the Broadway
musical Black & Blue (replacing her ex-Atlantic labelmate Ruth Brown).
Diagnosed with diabetes in 1992, Baker had both of her legs amputated.
She would occasionally return to the stage with the aid of a motorised
wheelchair, before dying at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in NYC in 1997.

Recommended listening:
Leavin' A Lastin' Impression - Best of Atlantic - LAVCD 777 (28 tracks)
Rock & Roll/LaVern - US Collectables
See See Rider/Blues Ballads - US Collectables
Precious Memories/Sings Bessie Smith - US Collectables
Sequel (UK) has reissued the complete Atlantic recordings on seven
CD's in 1997 (RSACD 909-915).
For an interview with LaVern see http://www.realblues.com/interv4.html