Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412200001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JENNIFER BOWLES ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
Up since dawn, she had an early date with a makeup artist, headed to Hollywood to receive her star on the Walk of Fame, ate lunch with singer Nancy Wilson and underwent hours of media interviews back in her plush Beverly Hills hotel room.
Still awaiting her was a late-night studio session to remix an upcoming single and a get-together with Natalie Cole.
``Pardon me,'' she says as she rips off her silver hoop earrings and fake eyelashes, plunking them down on a grandiose wooden table.
``Man! OK. I'm sorry, I'm ready,'' she says, letting off a big laugh.
The seven-time Grammy award winner is laughing with a sense of relief these days. Her fifth album, ``Rhythm of Love,'' was released this fall - four years after her last album.
Such a lengthy hiatus from the recording business can be devastating to a career. And Baker had left at a crucial time, when she was enjoying both critical and commercial success. On top of it, while she was away, competitors such as Toni Braxton rose from anonymity and flourished.
``There were a lot of anxieties that I had coming back into the business,'' she said. ``I worried even more so with this album because it had been so long between projects. I was worried about whether I had lost touch being away so long? Did I still have it?''
Her concerns didn't last too long. The week that ``Rhythm of Love'' hit store shelves, it soared to the No. 3 spot on the nation's pop album chart and went platinum within six days.
Consisting of a ``mishmash'' of jazz, rhythm and blues and pop tunes, added bonuses on the album are remakes of ``The Look of Love'' and ``You Belong to Me,'' songs made famous by Dusty Springfield and Carly Simon respectively, and given a sensuous dimension by the velvety-voiced Baker.
A review by the Los Angeles Times said: ``While not as instantly irresistible as ``Rapture'' - still her best album to date - this record's sultry charms grow on you with each listening.''
Baker's response: ``How about a couple of hallelujah choruses?''
But the 36-year-old singer wasn't always so overjoyed. Four years ago, a pivotal moment in her career occurred when she walked into a ritzy Chicago hotel room.
``When you're on the road for six years you need a constant of some kind. My constant was that when I walked into the hotel room, I need to know that everything is going to be to the right of the entrance. You need something to make you feel like you have a home and that was what it was for me.
``So I walked into this beautiful hotel suite and all I could see was that everything was to the left, and it just threw me and I just started to cry. My husband said, `Hey it's OK. let's go home, it's time to go.'''
Baker took some time off, relaxing at her suburban Detroit home and spending time with her husband, real estate developer Walter Bridgforth.
``Out of that - just doing nothing - came `look at that guy, don't you want to have babies with that man?' You know?
``I was approaching 33, and the body clock is ticking and it was talking to me. We had been trying to have kids for years, you know, I had three miscarriages.''
To carry a baby full term, Baker had to undergo a surgical procedure. It was successful and resulted in two children: Walter Jr., 21 months, and Eddie, 6 months.
When she hits the road this time, her hotel rooms will still have to open up to the right, but her children will be in tow to help kick off a West Coast tour Dec. 27 in Los Angeles.
``This is part of `the life' here, part of the balancing act,'' she said. ``We're going to try two weeks on, two weeks off. The first month or so will basically be trial and error.''
Becoming a mother, she says, has given her music an added dimension and softened herself up a bit.
``I really think that my emotions are more on my sleeve. I cry a lot,'' she said. ``Not that I'm sad all the time, but things that would have touched me as deeply before I could hold it back. I can't now.''
by CNB