Arthur Baker

Arthur Baker is credited as the remix producer on the Lara Croft soundtrack album produced by Dave Stewart

. 22 April 1955, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Arthur Baker began in music as a club DJ in Boston, Massachusetts, playing soul and R&B for the clubgoers. He moved into production for Emergency Records shortly thereafter, including work on Northend and Michelle Wallace's "Happy Days" (his first record, only released in Canada, was Hearts Of Stone's "Losing You"). This preceded a move to New York where he became intrigued by the rap scene of 1979. He entered the studios once more, this time in tandem with Joe Bataan, to record a pseudo rap record, "Rap-O-Clap-O", but the projected record company, London, went under before its release. The proceeds of the session did emerge later, although Baker went uncredited, after he returned to Boston. His next project was "Can You Guess What Groove This Is?" by Glory, a medley that hoped to find a novelty market. From there, back in New York, he joined Tom Silverman's Tommy Boy Records operation to record "Jazzy Sensation" with Afrika Bambaataa and Shep Pettibone. Afterwards, he partnered Bambaataa on his seminal 1982 "Planet Rock' single, before starting Streetwise Records. Though interwoven with the development of hip-hop, Baker's later releases were inspired by the club scene (Wally Jump Jnr."s "Tighten Up", Jack E Makossa's "The Opera House" and Criminal Orchestra Element's "Put The Needle On The Record"). He went on to become an internationally renowned producer, working with legends such as Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and performing important remixing work for artists including New Order. In 1989 he collaborated with the Force MD's, ABC and OMD, among others, on a showcase album that saw Baker working through various dance styles under his own auspices. A year was spent working on the biography of Quincy Jones' life before returning in 1991 with rapper and former MTV security guard Wendell Williams for club-orientated material such as "Everybody", and a commercially unsuccessful follow-up to the Merge album.

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