2013: Year of the Comeback
The Body of Soul
Anita Baker is no stranger to the Grammy stage. She’s already been the recipient of eight Grammy awards. And with a staggering fifteen nominations on her résumé to date, the sultry Detroit songstress, who stormed the pop and R&B charts with hits like “Just Because,” “Giving You the Best That I Got” and her concert staple “Sweet Love” in the Eighties, will be heading into the 55th Grammy Awards with yet another golden opportunity to win a coveted gramophone statue.
She’s walking into the thick of this year’s Grammy competition with a smooth cover of a late-‘90’s R&B classic. ”Lately,” originally sung by Tyrese, is transformed into a Baker casserole full of her trademark vocal riffs. Some predict she’s the oddball in the batch of nominations for Best Traditional R&B Performance (facing Melanie Fiona, SWV, Gregory Porter and Beyonce’), but Baker’s swagger remains undaunted.
Hard times had befallen on Baker since she last dropped a record. Since her last studio album, 2004’s My Everything, Baker has gone through a nasty divorce with her longtime husband Walter Bridgforth Jr., and even faced financial hardships. But Baker rose from those setbacks to return to what she’s most famous for: the music, of course. At the age of 55, Baker is preparing to drop her next record on her fans, which will be titled Only Forever. The record, originally slated to be called “21st Century Love,” will be an album of firsts for the famed soul singer: She produced the album in both digital and analog forms; she collaborates with new producers (Don Was, The Underdogs), while also dueting with rapper Snoop Dogg on a cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Give Me Your Love.”
