Anita Baker was told she lacked star potential, then came Rapture

Anita Baker was born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1958. Her mother left when she was two, and she was raised by a foster family in Detroit; at twelve she lost her foster parents, and a foster sister raised her afterwards. By sixteen she was singing R&B in Detroit nightclubs, where the bandleader David Washington spotted her and handed her a card to audition for the funk band Chapter 8.

She joined in 1975, and the band toured until Ariola Records signed them in 1979. But when Ariola was absorbed by Arista, the new label dropped Chapter 8, convinced that Baker did not have star potential. She went back to Detroit and worked as a waitress and a receptionist until 1982, when Otis Smith convinced her to start a solo career on his Beverly Glen label. Her debut, The Songstress, appeared in 1983, and “Angel” became her first R&B top ten single.

Money and time then slipped away: she says she received no royalties, the label delayed her follow-up, and Smith sued her for breach of contract in 1985. She won the case and signed with Elektra, whose contract gave her creative control and the right to produce her own music.

The result was Rapture, in March 1986. Sales started slowly, but the mid-tempo ballad “Sweet Love” reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned a Grammy, and further hits followed, including “Caught Up in the Rapture”. She followed with the 1988 album Giving You the Best That I Got. Baker is a contralto known for her soulful ballads at the height of the quiet storm era, and as of 2017 she had won eight Grammy Awards.