LaVern Baker on Everyday with Joan Lunden, 1990

LaVern Baker performs "Jim Dandy" and "Tomorrow Night" on Everyday with Joan Lunden; March, 20, 1990. "In January of 1990, LaVern Baker came to the U.S. after 20 years living and working at a U.S. Military base in The Philippines. She was hired to sing a song in the Dick Tracy film, made that year by Disney. I co-wrote that song, “Slow Rollin’ Mama” with the great songwriter Doc Pomus (and that is an amazing story in its own right), and we had written it with LaVern in mind to sing it. Getting that pitch to Seymour Stein, head of Sire Records, and Madonna, the music supervisor of the film, had set in motion a series of events that eventually restarted LaVern’s career in the U.S. for the next 8 years, with me as her musical director and producer! "I asked LaVern if she wanted to do any gigs when she came for the three-week trip to sing on the soundtrack, and she did, so I set about trying to kickstart the career of one of the greatest Blues singers of the 20th century. I helped bring her to the attention of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, which decided to give her a lifetime achievement award and a showcase for the Congressional Black Caucus at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Then Ruth Brown (her old label mate at Atlantic Records in the 50s & 60s) asked us to do a live show on her NPR blues show. So we did two nights at the legendary Lone Star Café in NYC, where NPR recorded us. And at those shows, lots of promoters and agents started making offers. "A producer of a new network television show, Everyday with Joan Lunden (then also the star of ABC’s Good Morning America), asked us to perform live on the air. We did that show a couple of days later, and Joan thought it went so well that she asked me to help book a few more acts. I got certifiable legends Jimmy Scott, Ruth Brown, and Charles Brown all to play the show in the next couple of weeks, and I am including Jimmy Scott’s performance here. Marilyn McCoo of the Fifth Dimension hosted out segment, and she was a huge fan of LaVern’s, and I got to hang out with her for much of the day. The band included a young John Pizzarelli on Bass! It was a whirlwind couple of weeks that completely changed my life and put me into serious NYC Show Biz circles for nearly a decade." ~ Barry