LaVern Baker › Similar Artists

Ruth Brown - 100% match to LaVern Baker

12 January 1928, Portsmouth, Virginia, USA, d. 17 November 2006, Henderson, Nevada, USA. Brown started her musical career singing gospel at an early age in the church choir led by her father. In 1948 she was singing with a band led by her husband Jimmy in Washington, DC, when Willis Conover (from the radio show Voice Of America) recommended her to Ahmet Ertegun of the newly Read more

Chuck Willis - 94% match to LaVern Baker

The Clovers - 71% match to LaVern Baker

This US R&B vocal ensemble formed in Washington, DC, in 1946, and built a career recording smooth ballads and bluesy jumps for New York independent Atlantic Records, in the process becoming one of the most popular vocal groups of the 50s. By the time the group first recorded for Rainbow Records in early 1950, the Clovers comprised John ‘Buddy’ Bailey (1930, Was Read more

Clyde McPhatter - 66% match to LaVern Baker

Clyde Lensley McPhatter, 15 November 1932, Durham, North Carolina, USA, d. 13 June 1972, New York City, New York, USA. For three years, McPhatter was the lead singer in the seminal R&B vocal group Billy Ward And His Dominoes. He left in 1953 to form the Drifters, whose early releases were enhanced by the singer’s emotional, gospel-drenched delivery. In 1954 McPhatte Read more

Ivory Joe Hunter - 59% match to LaVern Baker

10 October 1914, Kirbyville, Texas, USA, d. 8 November 1974, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Although Hunter was a well-known figure in Texas through his radio shows, it was not until the 40s, when he moved to the west coast, that his career flourished. He established his own record companies, Ivory and Pacific, recording on the former with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (the Ex Read more

Big Joe Turner - 57% match to LaVern Baker

Joseph Vernon Turner, 18 May 1911, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, d. 24 November 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA. ‘Big’ Joe Turner (aka Big Vernon) began singing in local clubs in his early teens upon the death of his father, and at the age of 15 teamed up with pianist Pete Johnson. Their professional relationship lasted on-and-off for over 40 years. During the lat Read more

The Cardinals - 51% match to LaVern Baker

Lloyd Price - 37% match to LaVern Baker

9 March 1933, Kenner, Louisiana, USA. Price, who launched his career in the early 50s performing rocking R&B, New Orleans-style, was - like his Crescent City compatriot Fats Domino - made for the rock ‘n’ roll era. He did not have to modify his approach at all to become a rock ‘n’ roll hit-maker in the late 50s. Price formed his own band in New Orlean Read more

Big Maybelle - 35% match to LaVern Baker

Mabel Louise Smith, 1 May 1924, Jackson, Tennessee, USA, d. 23 January 1972, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Maybelle was discovered singing in church by Memphis band leader Dave Clark in 1935. When Clark disbanded his orchestra to concentrate on record promotion, Smith moved to Christine Chatman’s orchestra with whom she first recorded for Decca Records in 1944. Three years late Read more

Tiny Grimes - 30% match to LaVern Baker

Lloyd Grimes, 7 July 1916, Newport News, Virginia, USA, d. 4 March 1989, New York City, New York, USA. After playing drums and piano, Grimes turned to the guitar. Unusual among guitarists, he played a four-string instrument and was also an early experimenter with electrical amplification. In the late 30s and early 40s he worked in New York, attracting great attention when he Read more

Larry Williams - 27% match to LaVern Baker

10 May 1935, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 2 January 1980, Los Angeles, California, USA. Williams recorded a handful of raucous rock ‘n’ roll songs for Specialty Records that later influenced, among others, John Lennon. Williams learned to play the piano while in New Orleans, and moved to Oakland, California, with his family while in his teens. There he joined a Read more

Wynonie Harris - 26% match to LaVern Baker

24 August 1915, Omaha, Nebraska, USA, d. 14 June 1969, Los Angeles, California, USA. This stylish, flamboyant blues shouter enjoyed several R&B hit singles in the immediate post-war period. As a youth Harris played drums in and around his home town before moving to Los Angeles in the early 40s. There he played, danced, sang and worked in several non-musical capacities in Read more

The Coasters - 25% match to LaVern Baker

The illustrious career of the Coasters, the pre-eminent vocal group of the early rock ‘n’ roll era, was built on a remarkable body of cleverly comic R&B songs for Atco Records fashioned by their producers, Leiber And Stoller. Under their direction, the Coasters exchanged the crooning of ballads favoured by most groups of the era for robust and full-throated R& Read more

Joe Tex - 22% match to LaVern Baker

Joseph Arrington Jnr., 8 August 1933, Rogers, Texas, USA, d. 13 August 1982, Navasota, Texas, USA. The professional career of this popular singer began onstage at the Apollo. He won first place in a 1954 talent contest and duly secured a record deal. Releases on King Records, Ace Records and the Anna labels were derivative and disappointing, but Tex meanwhile honed his songw Read more

Hank Ballard & The Midnighters - 21% match to LaVern Baker

John Kendricks, 18 November 1936, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 2 March 2003, Los Angeles, California, USA. His date of birth is disputed, and varies between 1927 and 1936. Ballard’s truck-driving father died when he was seven years old and he was sent to Bessemer, Alabama, to live with relations. The strict religious and gospel upbringing caused him to run away, and by th Read more