Arthur Baker (born April 22, 1955) is an American
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
and
DJ best known for his work with
hip hop artists like
Afrika Bambaataa and
Planet Patrol, as well as
British group New Order. He is also known for remixing the
Jill Jones song "Mia Bocca" on the 12" single, taken from her self-titled debut album ''
Jill Jones'' (1987), released on Prince's
Paisley Park Records, as well as remixing the
Pet Shop Boys song, "
In The Night". His remix of the song was used as the main theme for the
BBC TV programme
The Clothes Show
''The Clothes Show'' is a British television show about fashion that was broadcast on BBC One from 1986 to 2000, and from 2006 on UKTV Style and Really. At its height, ''The Clothes Show'' had around 9 million viewers every Sunday night. It al ...
between 1986 and 1994. He also remixed 'the Massive Jungle Mix' for
Tina Turner's
UK top 40 lead single from her 1996 album ''
Wildest Dreams'' "
Whatever You Want" (co-written by himself,
Taylor Dayne and
Fred Zarr).
Arthur Baker's songs are represented by
Downtown Music Publishing
Downtown Music Holdings is a global independent rights management and music services company. Based in New York City, it has been composed of five divisions: Downtown Music Services, Fuga, Songtrust, Adrev and CD Baby. All divisions live under th ...
.
Biography
Early career
Born in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
,
['Interview: Arthur Baker', ''DJ History''](_blank)
, Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton. Retrieved June 13, 2005. Baker began working as a club DJ in Boston in the early-1970s, where he was known for playing crowd-pleasing
soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...
and
Philly soul. Nonetheless, he had little patience for DJing, saying in an interview: "
fI didn't get a good reaction on a record, I'd just rip it off, break it up and throw it on the dancefloor."
Baker's production career started off with a few disco recording sessions in Boston. Legendary disco remixer
Tom Moulton
Thomas Jerome Moulton (, ; born November 29, 1940) is an American record producer. He experimented with remix in disco music and this led to its wide adoption as a standard practice in the industry. He also invented the breakdown section, and the ...
, who was signed to Casablanca at the time, was required to release an album of his own as part of the deal for working for the label. Tom's brother Jerry came across the sessions written and recorded by Baker, Tony Carbone, and Larry Wedgeworth and bought them in a deal from Baker. Moulton then remixed the tracks and released them as his 1979 album "T.J.M" Baker talked about the album in an interview with Red Bull Music Academy in 2012.
Baker also released a single under the moniker "North End" on
West End Records in 1979, "Kind of Life (Kind of Love)."
Remixer/producer
In 1981, Baker moved to
New York, where he continued to DJ while pursuing a career as a producer. His first successful single was "
Happy Days", which he released under the name North End on
Emergency Records in 1981.
In the early 1980s, prior to digital recording equipment that would emerge a decade later, Baker and his contemporaries created remixes on analogue tape. He worked closely with
the Latin Rascals, which were influenced by the earlier work of
Tom Moulton
Thomas Jerome Moulton (, ; born November 29, 1940) is an American record producer. He experimented with remix in disco music and this led to its wide adoption as a standard practice in the industry. He also invented the breakdown section, and the ...
, John Morales (of
Morales and Munzibai), and
Walter Gibbons
Walter Gibbons (April 2, 1954 – September 23, 1994) was an American record producer, early disco DJ, and remixer. He helped pioneer the remix and 12" single in America, and was among the most influential New York DJs of the 1970s.
Career
Gib ...
, the creator of the first commercially available twelve-inch single, a remix of
Double Exposure
In photography and cinematography, a multiple exposure is the superimposition of two or more exposures to create a single image, and double exposure has a corresponding meaning in respect of two images. The exposure values may or may not be i ...
's "
Ten Percent
''Ten Percent'' is the debut studio album recorded by American male vocal quartet Double Exposure, released in 1976 on the Salsoul label.
History
The album features the title track, which peaked at No.2 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart, No. 54 on ...
." The Latin Rascals would eventually edit the work of every major United States dance-music producer active in the 1980s, but in the early days, the duo was part of Baker's circle.
Baker went on to work for hip-hop label
Tommy Boy Records, where he produced
Afrika Bambaataa and the
Soul Sonic Force's "
Planet Rock" single, which was a hit in the summer of 1982.
The record combined elements from two
Kraftwerk recordings, "Trans Europe Express" and "Numbers," which were
interpolated by studio musicians, rather than
sampled. Later that year, using unused tracks from “Planet Rock, he later produced
Planet Patrol's "Play at Your Own Risk" single in 1982, another group with a hit album in 1983.
Also during 1982, he produced the single "Walking on Sunshine" by Rocker's Revenge featuring Donny Calvin which hit number one on the U.S. Dance chart on September 18 that year.
In 1983, Baker found work doing dance remixes of pop and rock hits, first with
Cyndi Lauper's "
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a song written, recorded and performed by American musician Robert Hazard, who released it as a single in 1979. It is best known for the version of American singer Cyndi Lauper, who covered the song in 1983. It ...
," and
Bruce Springsteen's "
Dancing in the Dark," "
Cover Me," and "
Born in the U.S.A." from his ''
Born in the U.S.A.'' album. Also during 1983, Baker produced the track "I.O.U." by Freeez, which was one of the biggest dance hits of the year in the UK. In 1984, Baker contributed his "Breakers' Revenge" to the ''
Beat Street'' score and
movie soundtrack, which he also helped produce. He is the remixer and additional producer for songs for
Hall and Oates ("Out Of Touch", "Method Of Modern Love", "Possession Obsession", "Dance On Your Knees") and
Diana Ross ("Swept Away", co-written and co-produced by Daryl Hall)). In 1985, he produced three songs on
Jennifer Holliday's album ''Say You Love Me'', the biggest hit being "No Frills Love", a song he co-wrote, co-produced, arranged and remixed. The remixes for
Pet Shop Boys´ "Suburbia" followed in 1986.
Following these successes, Baker came to the attention of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
alternative dance group
New Order, who co-wrote "
Confusion" and "
Thieves Like Us" with him (and Baker can be seen prominently in the music video of the former). The 12-inch single "Confusion" was a crossover hit on the
U.S. dance charts, and established a relationship between Baker and the band that has continued since.
Narrowly missing out on signing the
Beastie Boys to his Streetwise Records label, Baker did manage to sign the group
New Edition, which had success with its single "
Candy Girl."
Further collaborations
In 1984, Baker worked with
Hall & Oates as mix consultant on their album ''
Big Bam Boom,'' and the result was a markedly urban and electronic sound for the duo. Baker co-wrote the opening instrumental, "Dance On Your Knees," with Daryl Hall. He also remixed that song and the album's other three chart hits: "Out Of Touch", "Method Of Modern Love", and "Possession Obsession." Baker also contributed three remixes to “Tease Me,” the lead-off track on (Ohio Players and Parliament Funkadelic alum) Walter “Junie” Morrison's “Evacuate Your Seats” Techno-Freqs EP.
In 1985, Baker helped
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
complete his ''
Empire Burlesque'' album as mixer and arranger, and with
Little Steven Van Zandt
Steven Van Zandt (né Lento; born November 22, 1950), also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, in which he plays guitar and mandoli ...
organized and produced the anti-
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
anthem "Sun City" by
Artists United Against Apartheid. He was later honored by the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...
Special Committee against Apartheid for "high valuable contribution to the international campaign for the elimination of apartheid and the establishment of a non-racial and democratic society in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
".
In the late 1980s and later into the 1990s, Baker worked with soul star
Al Green
Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...
, writing and producing the international hit "The Message is Love" and the anti-handgun song "Leave the Guns at Home". In 1989, he released the album ''Merge'' on A&M Records as Arthur Baker and the Backbeat Disciples, and remixed
Neneh Cherry's debut single "
Buffalo Stance
"Buffalo Stance" is a song by Swedish singer Neneh Cherry, released from her debut album, ''Raw Like Sushi'' (1989), in November 1988. The song peaked at 3 on both the UK Singles Chart and the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and it reached No. 1 in h ...
". He was also the music supervisor of the films ''
Fried Green Tomatoes'' and ''Listen Up - The Lives of Quincy Jones''. In 1991, he released a second album under Arthur Baker and the Backbeat Disciples, ''Give in to the Rhythm''.
1990s–2000s
In the 1990s, following a break from production for some years, Baker moved to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, and established a chain of successful bars—The Elbow Rooms—across the city. He also owns th
Tiny Robotrestaurant an
The Starland Social Clubmembers bar in London, located in
Notting Hill. He continues to work as a DJ and producer and recently produced "Part-A" for the genre-busting London Electro Metal band Monsta.
The Arthur Baker remix of '
Spaceman' by
Babylon Zoo
Babylon Zoo were an English rock band formed in 1992 in Wolverhampton. Their song " Spaceman" gained considerable exposure through its use in a Levi's jeans television advert in the United Kingdom in late 1995. Released as the band's debut sing ...
was used in the 1995
Levi's commercial 'Planet'.
In 2006, the financial services company
Visa used a Baker-produced track from Afrika Bambaataa's "Looking For the Perfect Beat" as the backing music of a Visa Check Card commercial. In the ad, an animated worm drawn on the pages of a checkbook does the 1980s dance known as
the Worm.
Select discography
Wally Jump Jr. & the Criminal Element
Criminal Element Orchestra
Arthur Baker & the Backbeat Disciples
Other projects
References
External links
Interviewon DJ History
''The Guardian'' interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Arthur
1955 births
Living people
A&M Records artists
American hip hop musicians
Record producers from Massachusetts
Post-disco musicians
American freestyle musicians
Musicians from Boston
American electro musicians
American DJs
American expatriates in England