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LaVern Baker
A sassy, big-voiced soul star who was part of the early rock and roll explosion
in the 1950s, LaVern Baker was a pioneer for black female singers and a
charismatic performer from the golden age of R&B music. A relative of blues
legend Memphis Minnie, she grew up singing in her local church choir in Chicago
and by the age of 17 was singing in South Side nightclubs under the name Little
Miss Sharecropper, making her first recordings for Columbia in the late 1940s.
She also performed with the Eddie 'Sugarman' Penigar Orchestra and briefly went
by the name Bea Baker before really cat...
