LaVern Baker was one of the sexiest divas gracing the mid-'50s rock & roll circuit, boasting a brashly seductive vocal delivery tailor-made for belting the catchy novelties "Tweedlee Dee," "Bop-Ting-a-Ling," and "Tra La La" for Atlantic Records during rock's first wave of prominence. Born Delores Williams, she was singing at the Club DeLisa on Chicago's south side at age 17, decked out in raggedy attire and billed as "Little Miss Sharecropper" (the same handle that she made her recording debut under for RCA Victor with Eddie "Sugarman" Penigar's band in 1949). She changed her name briefly to Bea Baker when recording for OKeh in 1951 with Maurice King's Wolverines, then settled on the first name of LaVern when she joined Todd Rhodes' band as featured vocalist in 1952 (she fronted Rhodes' aggregation on the impassioned ballad "Trying" for Cincinnati's King Records).
LaVern signed with Atlantic as a solo in 1953, debuting with the incendiary "Soul on Fire." The coy, Latin-tempo "Tweedlee Dee" was a smash in 1955 on both the R&B and pop charts, although her impact on the latter was blunted when squeaky-clean Georgia Gibbs covered it for Mercury. An infuriated Baker filed suit over the whitewashing, but she lost. By that time, though, her star had ascended: Baker's "Bop-Ting-A-Ling," "Play It Fair," "Still," and the rocking "Jim Dandy" all vaulted into the R&B Top Ten over the next couple of years.
Baker's statuesque figure and charismatic persona made her a natural for TV and movies. She co-starred on the historic R&B revue segment on Ed Sullivan's TV program in November of 1955 and did memorable numbers in Alan Freed's rock movies Rock, Rock, Rock and Mr. Rock & Roll. Her Atlantic records remained popular throughout the decade: she hit big in 1958 with the ballad "I Cried a Tear," adopted a pseudo-sanctified bellow for the rousing Leiber & Stoller-penned gospel sendup "Saved" in 1960, and cut a Bessie Smith tribute album before leaving Atlantic in 1964. A brief stop at Brunswick Records (where she did a sassy duet with Jackie Wilson, "Think Twice") preceded a late-'60s jaunt to entertain the troops in Vietnam. She became seriously ill after the trip and was hospitalized, eventually settling far out of the limelight in the Philippines. She remained there for 22 years, running an NCO club on Subic Bay for the U.S. government.
Finally, in 1988, Baker returned stateside to star in Atlantic's 40th anniversary bash at New York's Madison Square Garden. That led to a soundtrack appearance in the film Dick Tracy, a starring role in the Broadway musical Black & Blue (replacing her ex-Atlantic labelmate Ruth Brown), a nice comeback disc for DRG (Woke Up This Mornin'), and a memorable appearance at the Chicago Blues Festival. Baker died on March 10, 1997. -- Bill Dahl of All Music Guide.
01. Lots And Lots Of Love 02. Of Course I Do 03. You�ll Be Crying 04. Miracles 05. I�m In A Crying Mood 06. Mine All Mine |
07. Harbor Lights 08. I�ll Never Be Free 09. Romance In The Dark 10. Everybody�s Somebody�s Fool 11. How Long Will It Be 12. Fool That I Am |
01. Jim Dandy 02. Tra La La 03. I Can�t Love You Enough 04. Get Up, Get Up (you sleepy head) 05. That�s All I Need 06. Bop-Ting-A-Ling 07. Tweedlee Dee |
08. Still 09. Play It Fair 10. Tomorrow Night 11. That Lucky Old Sun 12. Soul On Fire 13. My Happiness Forever 14. How Can You Leave A Man Like This? |
01. Gimme A Pigfoot (and a bottle of beer) 02. Baby Doll 03. On Revival Day 04. Money Blues 05. I Ain�t Gonna Play No Second Fiddle 06. Backwater Blues |
07. Empty Bed Blues 08. There�ll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight 09. Nobody Knows You When You�re Down And Out 10. After You�ve Gone 11. Young Woman�s Blues 12. Preaching The Blues |
01. I Cried A Tear 02. If You Love Me 03. You�re Teasing Me 04. Love Me Right 05. Dix-A-Billy 06. So High, So Low |
07. I Waited Too Long 08. Why Baby Why 09. Humpty Dumpty Heart 10. It�s So Fine 11. Whipper Snapper 12. St. Louis Blues |
01. See See Rider 02. You Better Stop 03. He�s A Real Gone Guy 04. Story Of My Love 05. You Said 06. I�m Leaving You |
07. Don�t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes 08. Trying 09. Half Of Your Love 10. A Little Bird Told Me So 11. Endless Love 12. All The Time |
01. Tweedlee Dee 02. Tomorrow Night 03. See See Rider 04. Play It Fair 05. Jim Dandy 06. St. Louis Blues 07. What A Diff�rence A Day Makes 08. The Reel�s Still Running 09. Sugar Daddy Blues |
10. Slow Rollin� Mama 11. He�s A Real Gone Guy 12. That�s My Desire 13. Tennessee Waltz 14. I Cried A Tear 15. Bumble Bee 16. Shake A Hand 17. Saved |
01. Soul On Fire 02. Tomorrow Night 03. Tweedlee Dee 04. That�s All I Need 05. Bop-Ting-A-Ling 06. Play It Fair 07. Jim Dandy 08. My Happiness Forever 09. Get Up, Get Up (you sleepy head) 10. Still |
11. I Can�t Love You Enough 12. Jim Dandy Got Married 13. I Cried A Tear 14. Whipper Snapper 15. I Waited Too Long 16. Shake A Hand 17. How Often (w/ Ben E King) 18. You Said 19. Saved 20. See See Rider |
01. That�s My Desire 02. You�ve Got A Friend 03. Body And Soul 04. Woke Up This Morning 05. Misty Blue 06. Knock On Wood 07. Trouble In Mind 08. To Love Somebody |
09. Why Don�t You Do Right? 10. Nobody Knows You When You�re Down And Out 11. Rock Me Baby 12. You Don�t Miss Your Water 13. I Can�t Turn You Loose 14. Will You Love Me Tomorrow 15. Tennessee Waltz |
01. Lots And Lots Of Love 02. Of Course I Do 03. You�ll Be Crying 04. Miracles 05. I�m In A Crying Mood 06. Mine All Mine 07. Harbor Lights 08. I�ll Never Be Free 09. Romance In The Dark 10. Everybody�s Somebody�s Fool 11. How Long Will It Be 12. Fool That I Am 13. Jim Dandy 14. Tra La La 15. I Can�t Love You Enough 16. Get Up, Get Up (you sleepy head) 17. That�s All I Need 18. Bop-Ting-A-Ling 19. Tweedlee Dee 20. Still 21. Play It Fair 22. Tomorrow Night 23. That Lucky Old Sun 24. Soul On Fire 25. My Happiness Forever |
26. How Can You Leave A Man Like This 27. See See Rider 28. You Better Stop 29. He�s A Real Gone Guy 30. Story Of My Love 31. You Said 32. I�m Leaving You 33. Don�t Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes 34. Trying 35. Half Of Your Love 36. A Little Bird Told Me So 37. Endless Love 38. All The Time 39. I Cried A Tear 40. If You Love Me 41. You�re Teasing Me 42. Love Me Right 43. Dix-A-Billy 44. So High, So Low 45. I Waited Too Long 46. Why Baby Why 47. Humpty Dumpty Heart 48. It�s So Fine 49. Whipper Snapper 50. St. Louis Blues |
01. Easy Baby 02. I Wonder, Baby 03. Take Out Some Time 04. I�ll Try (I�ve tried) 05. How Long 06. I Want To Rock 07. Good Daddy 08. I Want A Lavender Cadillac 09. Make It Good 10. Trying 11. Pig Latin Blues 12. Lost Child |
13. Must I Cry Again 14. You�ll Be Crying 15. How Can You Leave A Man Like This 16. Soul On Fire 17. I�m Living My Life For You 18. I�m In A Crying Mood 19. I Can�t Hold Out Any Longer 20. Of Course I Do 21. Tomorrow Night 22. You Better Stop 23. Tweedlee Dee |