Known for her controlled but adventurous singing style full of depth, colour and emotion, Anita Baker was among the most celebrated R&B, soul and jazz singers from her debut in the early 1980s until her retirement in 2017. She has had 27 singles on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart and ten on the Hot 100 with ten records on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart and eight on the Billboard 200. She has had 18 Grammy Award nominations with eight wins. Born in Ohio, she grew up in a single-parent home in Detroit, Michigan, where she began singing at neighbourhood churches as a child. Inspired by her mother's albums of singers such as Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson, she started singing jazz and R&B and in 1980 made a record with a group named Chapter 8. She moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and released her debut album 'The Songstress' the following year. It went to number 12 on Billboard's R&B Albums Chart and her single 'Angel' peaked at number five. Three years later, 'The Rapture' topped the R&B Albums Chart, went to number eleven on the Billboard 200 and won her the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Hit singles from the album included 'Sweet Love', which went to number eight on the Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. Other hit singles from 'Rapture' were 'Caught Up in the Rapture', 'No One in the World' and 'Same Ole Love'.
North American and international tours followed the success of 'Rapture' and she won another Grammy Award as a guest on the song 'Ain't Got No Need to Worry' by The Winans in 1987. Her 1988 album 'Giving You the Best That I Got' hit top number one on the Billboard 200 and the R&B Albums Chart and the title track topped the R&B Songs and Adult Contemporary Charts. 'Compositions' earned her another Grammy Award in 1990 while 'Rhythm of Love' topped the R&B Albums Chart in 1994.
She released a concert album 'A Night of Rapture' in 2004 and a seasonal album 'Christmas Time Is Here' in 2006. The latter and the single 'Lately' in 2012 also earned Grammy Award nominations. She toured in a one-woman show called 'An Evening With Anita Baker' and gradually reduced her workload until 2017 when she announced her retirement.