Anita Baker’s ticket to music started when she was just 12 years old as she started singing for the Baptist church choir. After four years of venturing as a front act, David Washington eventually saw her perform and got interested with her vocals, bass player then of Group 8, to audition for their band. At that time, Baker was singing for the band Humanity.
It was in 1975 that Baker found her ticket into Detroit as she began to front the band Chapter 8 which was very popular at the city back then.
After two years of touring Detroit, the band finally got its ticket to do recording by signing under Ariola. It was with them that Chapter 8 released their first debut album. However, the record company eventually went bankrupt and was eventually sold to Arista. Unfortunately, it seemed then that Baker’s ticket to fame was immediately halted. Arista refused to renew Chapter 8’s contract so Baker went back to Detroit and got herself employed as a receptionist in some local law firm.
But 1981, another success ticket loomed for Anita Baker. Around this time, Otis Smith put up his own record label—Beverly Glen. He was the same man responsible for signing up Chapter 8 with Ariola. As he remembered Anita Baker’s voice, he decided to call her up in late 1982. At first, Baker was hesitant since she has a full time job as a receptionist. Still, music got the best of her and decided to take the ticket into the world of recording once more. So in 1983, she had finally released her own debut solo album entitle, “The Songstress.” In 1984, she already had five chart hits and a promising ticket for a gold record label.
From then on, Anita Baker had become a phenomenon and continued to make a name for herself within the world of American music. Eventually, she was even awarded a rather different ticket to popularity as she was handed the key to Detroit in 1986 for her musical success. Up to this day, she continues to make waves in the field of music by releasing her greatest hits album and by being signed under Blue Note Records.
Apart from the usual soulful songs, Baker also got into doing Christmas songs for the holiday season. To this day, Anita Baker had a lot of ticket to success under her name. She was able to get four platinum awards and three gold awards for her various albums.
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