Helen LaRue Lowe (born January 8, 1954), known professionally as Helen Baylor, is an American

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

–

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

Early life

Born Helen LaRue Lowe in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, Baylor is the oldest of seven, she has five brothers and one sister. Baylor moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

at age eleven as her Dad (who was in the Army) had been transferred there. While in Los Angeles, Baylor first performed as a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

act.

Career

Baylor opened for

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

, and

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

while still in her teens, and performed in the

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

Hair Hair is a protein filament that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Hair is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. The human body, apart from areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and f ...

''.

Helen Baylor Helen LaRue Lowe (born January 8, 1954), known professionally as Helen Baylor, is an American singer–songwriter. Early life Born Helen LaRue Lowe in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Baylor is the oldest of seven, she has five brothers and one sister. Baylor ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

In 1967/68 she worked with producer

Bobby Sanders Bobby or Bobbie may refer to: People * Bobby (given name), a list of names * Bobby (actress), from Bangladesh * Bobby (rapper) (born 1995), from South Korea * Bobby (screenwriter) (born 1983), Indian screenwriter * Bobby, old slang for a constabl ...

releasing two singles, "The Richest Girl" and "What About Me Boy", as Little Helen for the Soultown label. In the 1970s she joined hit Broadway musical ''

'' and followed this period of her career as a session musician for artists that included

Captain & Tennille Captain & Tennille were American recording artists whose primary success occurred in the 1970s. The husband-and-wife team were "Captain" Daryl Dragon (1942–2019) and Toni Tennille (born 1940). They have five albums certified gold or platinu ...

Les McCann Leslie Coleman McCann (born September 23, 1935) is an American jazz pianist and vocalist.Feather, Leonard, and Ira Gitler (2007), ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 448. Oxford University Press. Early life Les McCann was born in ...

and

Rufus Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname (from Latin ''rufus'', "red"). Notable people with the name include: Given name Politicians * Rufus Ada George (born 1940), Nigerian politician * Rufus Al ...

. As a member of

Side Effect In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequence ...

her vocals featured on their third album '' What You Need'', from which "Always There", a song co-written by Ronnie Laws was a R&B chart success. Later in the 1980s her career would falter as a consequence of

drug abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

. Baylor became

sober In cryptography, SOBER is a family of stream ciphers initially designed by Greg Rose of QUALCOMM Australia starting in 1997. The name is a contrived acronym for ''S''eventeen ''O''ctet ''B''yte ''E''nabled ''R''egister. Initially the cipher wa ...

late in the decade, strengthening her

Christian faith Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global populat ...

and deciding to concentrate her career in gospel music. She released her first gospel recording on

Word Records Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records). History In 1 ...

in 1990 titled ''Highly Recommended'' and her first five albums all hit the Top Ten of the U.S.

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Gospel Albums chart, with the most successful being 1994's ''The Live Experience'', which reached #1 on that chart. The track "Oasis" was very successful in the UK, via

Expansion Records Expansion Records is a British record label founded by Northern Soul DJ Richard Searling and Soul Bowl owner John Anderson. In 1989, DJ Author & Journalist Ralph Tee joined the label, both he and Searling run Expansion Records. Label hist ...

and stayed on the

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

Dance Chart for 14 weeks. Also, the song "Sold Out" (from the album ''Start All Over'') won a

Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

for Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year at the 24th GMA Dove Awards in 1993. In July 2011, Baylor announced that she is co-producing a feature film about her life story. The film, ''A Praying Grandmother: The Helen Baylor Story'', will feature accounts that she first shared in the song, "Helen's Testimony" (Word, 1995) and in her autobiography, ''No Greater Love: The Helen Baylor Story.'' Baylor approached award-winning filmmaker Cassandra Hollis to co-produce and direct the film. Baylor was inducted into the

Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame The Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization that honors jazz, blues and gospel music, gospel musicians in the state of Oklahoma. Housed in the former Union Depot (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Tulsa Union Depot, wh ...

in 2000.

Personal

In August 1970, at age sixteen Baylor had her first child. Baylor battled with substance abuse; using marijuana and pain pills. Before going on tour with

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

, Baylor began dating the lighting director James Baylor who was also a drug dealer in 1979. Shortly thereafter, they moved in together. Baylor became a born-again Christian and quit doing drugs. In February 1982, she married Baylor. In 2000, they were contemplating separating but reconciled. However, in 2012, Baylor and her husband separated.

Discography

*''Highly Recommended'' (

, 1990) *''Look a Little Closer'' (Word, 1991) *''Start All Over'' (Word, 1993) *''The Live Experience'' (Word, 1995) *''Love Brought Me Back'' ( Sony Records, 1996) *''Helen Baylor...Live'' (

Verity Records Verity Records is an American gospel music-focused record label, founded in 1994. The Gospel group operated by Provident Label Group, which in turn is owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Artists * 21:03 * Crystal Aikin * Deitrick Haddon * DeW ...

, 1999) *''My Everything'' ( Diadem Records, 2002) *''Full Circle'' (

MCG The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hem ...

, 2006)

References

External links

Helen Baylor: Artist Profile; New Release Tuesday
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baylor, Helen 1954 births Living people Musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma American gospel singers American soul singers American women singers 21st-century American women