Arthur Baker (producer)

Biography

Arthur Baker entered the world on April 22, 1955, in Boston, Massachusetts. His first gig was as a club DJ in his hometown during the early 1970s, spinning soul and Philly soul to keep crowds happy. But he didn't have much patience for the job; he once said that if a record didn't get a good reaction, he'd just tear it off the turntable, snap it, and toss it onto the dancefloor. His move into production started with a handful of disco recording sessions in Boston.

Legendary remixer Tom Moulton, who had to put out his own album as part of his contract with Casablanca, got involved when his brother Jerry found some tracks written and recorded by Baker, Tony Carbone, and Larry Wedgeworth. Jerry bought them from Baker, Tom Moulton remixed the material, and it came out as his 1979 album "T.J.M." Baker later talked about that record in a 2012 interview with Red Bull Music Academy. That same year, Baker put out a single under the name North End on West End Records called "Kind of Life (Kind of Love)."

Remixer/producer

In 1981, he relocated to New York, still DJing while chasing production work. His first real success came with the North End single "Happy Days," released on Emergency Records in 1981. Back then, before digital gear showed up a decade later, Baker and his peers built remixes on analog tape. He teamed up closely with the Latin Rascals, a duo whose style was shaped by the earlier work of Tom Moulton, John Morales, and Walter Gibbons—the guy who made the first commercial twelve-inch single with his remix of Double Exposure's "Ten Percent."

The Latin Rascals went on to cut edits for every major U.S. dance-music producer of the 1980s, but early on they were part of Baker's crew. Baker then joined Tommy Boy Records, where he produced Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force's "Planet Rock," a hit in the summer of 1982. That track pulled from two Kraftwerk songs, "Trans Europe Express" and "Numbers," but the parts were replayed by studio musicians, not sampled. Later in 1982, he used leftover material from "Planet Rock" to produce Planet Patrol's "Play at Your Own Risk," which led to a hit album in 1983.

That same year, Baker also produced "Walking on Sunshine" by Rocker's Revenge featuring Donny Calvin, which climbed to number one on the U.S. Dance chart on September 18.