Louis Baker (born circa 1989 in Newtown,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

) is a New Zealand soul musician and singer-songwriter, best known for his live shows and singles (''Rainbow'', ''Black Crow'' and ''Addict)'' leading into his debut album (''Open''), released in 2019. One of Wellington and New Zealand's highest profile independent artists, he has seen success both locally and internationally. Baker was born and raised in the suburb of Newtown in Wellington, Baker began writing songs at age 11, and at age 17 was a finalist in a national songwriting competition. In 2014, he recorded his self-titled EP in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

with Andy Lovegrove, who has produced for Breaks Co-Op and

Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993 in Oxford. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey ( ...

. The EP reached No. 3 on the New Zealand Albums chart, and was well received critically. Baker's music has been influenced by the diverse culture of Wellington, especially Newtown, and acts such as

Fat Freddy's Drop Fat Freddy's Drop is a New Zealand seven-piece band from Wellington, whose musical style has been characterised as any combination of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues, and techno. Originally a jam band formed in the late 1990s by mus ...

and

Trinity Roots TrinityRoots (1998–2005, 2011–present) are a band based in Wellington, New Zealand. Although they are commonly associated with New Zealand reggae they also embody a stripped back, jazz and soul-influenced rhythmic sound, which often ...

Early life

Louis Baker grew up in a "tight-knit" working-class

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 165, ...

family in Coromandel Street, Newtown, and has two sisters. His mother worked in cleaning jobs before eventually starting an art teaching business, and his father has worked as a firefighter for 43 years in the nearby suburb of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He was heavily influenced by American musicians growing up, such as

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

and

Curtis Mayfield Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.

, as well as dub and reggae music as part of a cultural renaissance in Wellington in the 2000s, with acts such as

and

becoming successful. Baker spoke of his childhood in an interview with fondness, saying "I remember a honeysuckle tree and sucking the ends of the flowers, dancing in the living room to Michael Jackson. I remember listening to ''

Rubber Soul ''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work ...

'', by the Beatles, on vinyl. It was me, my sister and my Mum and my Dad. We had a huge oak tree where in Autumn the leaves would form a huge pile on the ground and as kids, we’d run and dive into them." At the age of 17 Baker entered Play It Strange, a national songwriting competition organised by Split Enz's Mike Chunn. His first song, 'Three Ladies', was dedicated to the experiences of his mother and two sisters. The track saw him place top five, with his prize being an acoustic guitar that he still records and travels with today.

Career

From 2010 – 2014, Baker was part of nine piece Neo-Soul, Experimental, Hip-Hop collective Brockaflower Saurus Rex. With a reputation for energetic and infectious live shows, the band self-released their debut album,  (''Build It'') in 2014. Originally desiring to be a cricket player, Baker gave up the sport before he started at university, quipping that he "got worse and worse because music took over". Baker studied a BMus Jazz Performance degree at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

, and, in 2012, won a scholarship to the Red Bull Music Academy in New York City, the programme, of which only 60 candidates out of 4,000 were selected, saw Baker have a studio session with

Just Blaze Justin Gregory Smith (born January 8, 1978), known professionally as Just Blaze, is an American hip hop record producer and DJ. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Blaze attended Rutgers University for three years before dropping out to pursue his m ...

and included lectures from

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Questlove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Thou ...

, and Q-Tip of

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

. He spent the summer following his time at the Red Bull Academy in London, and recorded his debut EP, producing a standalone single '''Even in the Darkness''', and 5 other tracks. They sparked critical acclaim in New Zealand, and led Baker to be nominated for the

APRA Silver Scroll The APRA Music Awards are several annual and two-yearly award ceremonies run in New Zealand by Australasian Performing Right Association to recognise songwriting skills, sales and airplay performance by its members. APRA hold the annual Silver ...

for his song Back on My Feet'.'' From 2014 onwards Baker released a number of singles (including a collaboration with Jordan Rakei) and then found greater stardom with his track ''Rainbow''. Written in Wellington and recorded at the Red Bull Studios in England with

The Nextmen The Nextmen is a UK production/songwriting/DJ duo consisting of Dom Search (a.k.a. Dominic Betmead) and Brad Baloo (a.k.a. Brad Ellis). Often incorporating hip hop, drum & bass, dub, pop, soul and various other eclectic electronic and in ...

Brad Ellis Brad Ellis is an American composer, musical director, singer, orchestrator, and jazz pianist. Ellis is perhaps most visible as Brad the mostly quiet pianist for the high school kids on ''Glee'', the Fox television show for which he is part of cre ...

it performed well on the NZ charts, and on Spotify, and was critically acclaimed in New Zealand and overseas. ''Rainbow'' was followed up by the singles ''Fade'', ''Gave it All Away,'' ''Addict and'' ''Black Crow'', in which Baker demonstrated his "introspective, "honest" and sincere" songwriting skills and "soulful crooning" His debut album, ''Open'', was released in 2019 to critical acclaim along with nominations for Best Soul / RnB Artist and Te Māngai Pāho Best Māori Artist at the 2019

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

. The lead single from the album, ''The People'', speaks to peace and unity, and was written before the Australian-committed

Christchurch mosque shootings On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosque ...

. Baker spoke of the song's place in the aftermath of the tragedy; "We’re living in uncertain times. I hope people choose love over fear more and more."

Personal life

Baker lives in Wellington. He also works as a mentor for the NZ Music Commission, Mentoring in Schools programme.

Discography

Studio albums * ''Open'' (2019) EPs * ''Louis Baker'' (2014) Singles * "Even in the Darkness" (2011) * "Birds" (2013) * "Just Want to Thank You" (2014) * "Rainbow" (2016) * "Fade" (2016) * "Addict" (2017) * "Gave It All Away" (2017) * "Black Crow" (2018) * "The People" (2019) * "So Lo" (2019)

Awards

* 2019:

– Best Soul / RnB Artist (Nominee) * 2019:

– Te Māngai Pāho Best Māori Artist (Nominee) * 2018: ISC Comp, Singer-Songwriter Top 12 * 2018: APRA Silver Scroll award – Top 20 / Black Crow * 2016: APRA Silver Scroll award – Top 20 / Rainbow * 2014: APRA Silver Scroll award – Top 5 Finalist / Back on My Feet * 2009: Primal Youth National Songwriting Competition – 1st * 2007: Play It Strange – Top 5 Finalist

References