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

Lloyd Price - 64% 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

Chuck Willis - 63% match to LaVern Baker

Ivory Joe Hunter - 48% 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

The Coasters - 48% 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

Big Joe Turner - 45% 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 Moonglows - 45% match to LaVern Baker

This R&B vocal group was formed in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, in 1952. If there were any group that best signalled the birth of rock ‘n’ roll - by which R&B emerged out of its black subculture into mainstream teen culture - it was the Moonglows. The group’s career paralleled that of their mentor, legendary disc jockey Alan Freed, who during his rise in rock &# Read more

Barbara Lynn - 44% match to LaVern Baker

Barbara Lynn Ozen, 16 January 1942, Beaumont, Texas, USA. Lynn was signed up by producer Huey P. Meaux after hearing a demo tape and watching her perform in a Texas club. Her early records were recorded at Cosimo’s New Orleans studio and leased to the Jamie label. Composed by Lynn, ‘You’ll Lose A Good Thing’ (1962) was an R&B chart-topper and pop Top Read more

The Clovers - 44% 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 - 43% 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

Big Maybelle - 41% 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

Johnny Otis - 38% match to LaVern Baker

Ioannis Veliotes, 28 December 1921, Vallejo, California, USA. Born into a family of Greek immigrants, Otis was raised in a largely black neighbourhood where he thoroughly absorbed the prevailing culture and lifestyle. He began playing drums in his mid-teens and worked for a time with some of the locally based jazz bands, including, in 1941, Lloyd Hunter’s orchestra. In Read more

Wynonie Harris - 38% 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

Baby Washington - 37% match to LaVern Baker

Justine Washington, 13 November 1940, Bamberg, South Carolina, USA. Washington’s (aka Jeanette Washington) tremendously moving voice, earthy but sophisticated, perfectly epitomized uptown soul. Yet unlike her southern counterparts she never experienced great crossover recognition, although once cited by Dusty Springfield as her all-time favourite singer. Read more

Shirley & Lee - 37% match to LaVern Baker

New Orleans-based duo Shirley Goodman (19 June 1936, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 5 July 2005, Los Angeles, California, USA) and Leonard Lee (b. 29 June 1936, d. 23 October 1976) began recording together in 1952. Billed as ‘The Sweethearts of the Blues’, they enjoyed a series of US R&B hits, including ‘I’m Gone’ (1952) and ‘Feel So Good&# Read more