Lavern Baker – La Vern

Coming at a time when jazz singing was slowly evolving into an erthier, more emotionally fervent style known as rhythm and blues, Lavern Baker’s debut album on Atlantic, dated 1956, proved her to be one of the key vocalists who furthered that transition.


The niece of legendary blues singer Memphis Minnie, Baker was blessed with a powerful, soul-tinged voice that she put to use since her teens under the stage name ‘Miss Sharecropper’ and which eventually earned her a contract with Atlantic in 1953.


Inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1990, Lavern was one of the most successful R&B artists of her era.