Lavern Baker

A major R&B vocalist during the '50s, LaVern Baker saw her career decline in the early '60s before she essentially retired. Her triumphant return to recording and performing in the late '80s is one of the rare happy endings in the history of early R&B. Baker first sang gospel as a little girl but was familiar with more secular styles; her aunt Merline Baker was better known as Memphis Minnie, a bl...