LaVern Baker (1929 –1997)  Section J-203

 LaVern Baker was born in Chicago on November 11,1929. She was one of the first rhythm and blues singers to cross over into the pop charts in the 1950’s. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1989.

 She learned to sing while growing up and attending a Baptist Church. As a teen she sang in Chicago clubs under the nickname of  “Little Miss Sharecropper.”

 Nat King Cole saw her perform and invited her to tour with him. Her early influences were Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald.

 She signed with a small local record company, but never had a hit with them. In 1954 she signed with Atlantic Records in 1954 and her song “Tweedle Dee” reached number 14 in the pop charts. She faced discrimination in Nashville when she was not allowed to ride in a cab, and found the clubs where they performed made the white kids and the black kids stay on separate sides of the dance floor with a rope down the middle. Once she started singing, the kids would knock the rope down and dance intermingled.

 Even with her songs, she encountered controversy; a white version of her song by Georgia Gibbs using the same arrangement reached number 2 on the charts. LaVern petitioned Congress to not allow that as per copyright laws of 1909, and asked for the law to be revised to disallow note-for-note copies of R & B songs by pop singers. The law then stated a song must be 8 or 12 bars different. Gibbs copied it straight. Nothing was done by the law.

 Soon she hooked up with Alan Freed, a concert promoter in 1955 and toured in Rock and Roll Jubilees, and toured with the likes of  Buddy Holly, Bo Diddley, Billy Haley, Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry and the Everly Brothers.

 In the 1960’s, she recorded more hits, one written by the famous duo, Leber and Stoller, called "Saved". She came out with yet another hit called "See See Rider".

 Her final song on the charts was "Think Twice" in 1966 as a duet with Jackie Wilson in the very popular Motown sound.

 In the late 1960's she entertained the soldiers in Vietnam. She became very ill  and went to the Philippines to recuperate. She recovered and stayed there 22 years and raised a family.

 In the 1980's, returning to New York, she starred in a show called "Black and Blue" on Broadway after her good friend Ruth Brown stepped down from the role.

 She was known for her sharp sense of humor and cracking some really inappropriate jokes for a lady. On stage she always gave her best.

 LaVern died in 1997 at the age of 67 and is buried in the newer section of Maple Grove called Memorial Park. All these years she never had a marker. Through fundraising efforts of historian Nancy Cataldi and supporters and friends, a beautiful marker was purchased and installed at her gravesite in May of 2008. It is a beautiful tribute to a beautiful lady.