Anita Baker

Yes, I saw her several times. Great voice.

No but thanks for asking.

Huge fan.

But apparently she's a huge bitch

I need a baker. Know one?

Loved her & and I still play her CDs regularly. What a voice !

No, r4.

But I do know a butcher and a candlestick maker.

Cheryl is a ....

Why did she disappear?

Hmmmmm...NO

As for her reputation of being a bitch, I would like to say that she and her(then)husband Walter Bridges were in F/C on a flight I worked from ATL-LAX close to 20-25 years ago and she could not have been nicer. I find that if people treat "the help" well and with respect, they are likely very decent folks. And that was when she was a pretty big deal.

I like hearing that r10. After all these years I've come to believe the cunty stories but I'm willing to re-examine.

Her jazzy-light sound is dated. What's there to get?

It's due for a comeback.

I wonder if she and Aretha Franklin ever hung out together in Detroit

I loved her music.

She announced retirement a year or so ago and just did another sold out show for her farewell tour.

I've never seen her live. Has anyone here? I'm probably like a lot of people, having first heard her live version of Sweet Love brfore even knowing who she was.

30 years ago this month marked the release of her 1988 Grammy nominee for Record of the Year and Song of the Year…

R16 Yes, I saw Anita perform live in a two-header concert along with Luther Vandross. She was amazing! This was back in the early 90s at the Forum in LA. Anita uses every part of her body to sing, sometimes contorting herself to get notes off cleanly. She sang all of her hits flawlessly and I'm glad to have seen the two of them...especially now that Luther is gone.

Good singer. Sings from the back of her throat.

We hear that the back of your throat is where you like it, alright.

R18 I’m in the biz. Luther and Anita performed at the LA Soorts Arena. Luther hated Anita. I think he was jealous of all the attention she was getting. I went backstage for a meet and greet. Their dressing rooms were on opposite ends of the arena. I stopped at Anita’s dressing room first. I asked the record rep why were they so far apart, he said because they hated each other. Luther’s dressing room was too far away and I wasn’t really a fan of his so I skipped his dressing room. I was really there to see her.

^ Sports Arena.

There was only enough room for one black female singing star and she couldn't cut it.

[quote]Why did she disappear?

She made several more albums after the first two, all very good. But R&B/soul changed because of hip-hop, and the 'grown folks' singers like Anita and Luther struggled to find a place for themselves in the mainstream when R&B radio no longer had room for artists like them. They were embraced by smooth jazz, but smooth jazz had its own collapse.

She left because she wanted to devote time to her husband and children.

Shut up Sven. You're right.

R24 I thought R&B sucked, until hip hop came along. It's like Trump making George W look good by comparison.

Hats, WASPs, Newport, and Anita 1.0.

[quote]I thought R&B sucked, until hip hop came along.

Different strokes and all that, but...I don't even know how to talk to someone like you.

Hip-hop couldn't even EXIST without all the R&B that came before.

I liked Rapture. It was one of my first CDs and I played it a lot.

I absolutely adore Anita Baker. By all accounts a total bitch. She had a very bitter divorce from her husband after many years of marriage.

Being a fellow citizen of Detroit, I thought she would have attended Arethra Franklin's funeral, but no. I bet they did not get along.

She disappeared OP because I came along.

She never was a singer of note.

I can't stand that honking whine she uses for a singing voice. I detested her work from the beginning, especially when there were other, more talented (or at least more fun) who struggled on the charts while she floated to the top like a turd.

She sounds remarkably well here.

I thought she'd disappeared because she'd had addiction problems. She looked sad and lost a few years back when they did one of those award ceremony tributes to her.

She was rumored to be a bitch from hell with Luther, but Miss Luther was no shrinking violet herself. Who knows.

The Anita/Luther tour was infamous. After Anita finished her set, Luther came out and said to the audience, "I'd like to thank my OPENING ACT Anita Baker!"

[quote] Being a fellow citizen of Detroit, I thought she would have attended Aretha Franklin's funeral, but no. I bet they did not get along.

Aretha was jealous of Anita's multiplatinum success and the Grammys she took (from Aretha). When asked her opinion of Anita, Aretha purportedly remarked "I can't understand a word she's singing."

Aretha basically did not get along with any other female soul singer. They were all rivals to her. It didn't matter how respectfully they dealt with her or how admiring they were of her - they were competition. Even Whitney was on the receiving end of that kind of treatment from her 'Aunt Ree'.

A reviewer once wrote that she moved like Joe Cocker.

As a kid, I knew that whenever I heard Anita Baker...it was time to clean the house.

I still play my Rapture cd. Great voice.

I was just thinking of her and Oleta Adams and wondering why neither could sustain success. I like that kind of music now and again.

Anita was dumb to turn down Babyface when he wanted her to record the Boomerang soundtrack, which made Toni Braxton (her successor) into star. Anita's decline was due to many bad decisions she made throughout her career.

It doesn't help matters that she's a bitch on wheels, too.

[quote] Aretha basically did not get along with any other female soul singer. They were all rivals to her. It didn't matter how respectfully they dealt with her or how admiring they were of her - they were competition. Even Whitney was on the receiving end of that kind of treatment from her 'Aunt Ree'.

True.

She always believed others were out to get her. She often turned down music written by various songwriters, but then if someone else made a hit out of it, she was livid. That happened with Natalie Cole, who loved Aretha like family. The music Re turned down was "This Will Be" and Natalie won a whole slew of Grammys for that. Aretha didn't let go of THAT grudge until after Miss Natalie DIED. That heifer could hold a grudge like no other.

[quote]She often turned down music written by various songwriters, but then if someone else made a hit out of it, she was livid.

Yes, and she would also do covers of other female singers' hits (i.e. I Say a Little Prayer) with the specific intent of one-upping them. She even stabbed her sister Carolyn in the back by co-opting Sparkle from her. It's too bad - she could have had real fellowship with other female performers, but she just couldn't get past her paranoia and jealousy.

Oprah said that she was BARE-ASSED BUTT NAKED! in the bathtub when she heard "Get Here" by Oleta Adams for the first time playing on her stereo in the other room. She had to get up and find out the name of the soaring chanteuse.

You left out smack, r28.

Aretha and Natalie made up in the 80's after Natalie went to rehab. Aretha had issues with Anita because some DJ in Detroit went on air and declared Anita as the New Queen of Soul after playing a song from Rapture. Word got back to Aretha who was fucking LIVID. But Anita has spoken very well of Aretha over the years and posted a poignant tribute recently.

It was Vesta William, BTW who said Anita sounded like Michael McDonald at a slower speed.

Anita Baker has won eight Grammy Awards and has five platinum albums and one gold album.

^^^ Anita Baker has 3 albums that were certified multiplatinum -- including "Rapture" at 5x platinum and "Giving You The Best..." at 3x platinum. Unbelievably, Aretha has just one multiplatinum certification -- 2x platinum certification for "Amazing Grace." Aretha was only jealous of the acclaim and commercial success Anita enjoyed. Aretha put Detroit and Soul on the map and here was this upstart threatening to take it all away. It was only that.

Aretha, like many soul acts of her time, including the big Motown acts, sold more singles than albums (even though her albums during her prime are considered classics by music critics).

It wasn't until the 80s when Aretha earned her first and only platinum album, Who's Zoomin' Who?

I'm surprised producers haven't remixed her music, or contacted her to work with them. Aretha stayed and everyone's radar by releasing singles and working with new producers.

Anita's first album Rapture was magnificent. Her voice is so unique.

The Songstress was Anita's first album, but Rapture was the one that put her on the map.

It wasn’t 80’s R&B if you weren’t lounging on the cover.

[quote]I'm surprised producers haven't remixed her music, or contacted her to work with them. Aretha stayed and everyone's radar by releasing singles and working with new producers.

Anita had a reputation for being hell on wheels in the studio, demanding and 'difficult', though it's impossible to know how much of that was true and how much was just sexist assholes getting twisted because a female artist knew what she wanted and insisted on getting it from the people around her. She had to fight to get credit as her albums' executive producer. Anyway, maybe her rep scares people off, or maybe there's truth in that reputation and she has turned down people who may have approached her.

Anita was also jealous of other females with good voices. She was rude towards Miki Howard at some awards show.

Her first three albums were great AC/R&B, but the fourth one, RYTHYM OF LOVE, was quite mediocre with two decent songs on it...the rest were shit.

She’s another one who has undeniable mega-talent, but I just never liked the sound of her voice. But I’ll say that hearing some of the shit that passes for singing, she’s a thousand times more tolerable.

Yes- I lik(ed) her. Clearly influenced by Sarah Vaughn.

R46, It always annoyed me that Oleta got all the credit for that song, when Brenda Russell had originally recorded it. In my opinion Brenda's version is better - Oleta's version sounds like she's singing through her nose.

I have a friend that toured with her and told stories that made her sound batshit crazy. Not mean but really sort of Norma Desmond-y in some of her bizarre ideas and reclusiveness. He respected her very much but said she was usually operating in some other dimension.

Anita needs to ENUNCIATE.

People grew tired of saying, Huh? Wha?

Anita has controlled how her music is commercially presented. She never approved dance remixes of her music.

I love her for this. Even if it has a dated sound.

R60 "Get Here" is one of those one-hit wonders I still listen to and it reminds me so much of that time. I had no idea it was a remake. Though I think Oleta's voice has a deeper register which suits the song. Brenda Russell's version reminds me of Natalie Cole.

The first time I knew of "Get Here" by Oleta Adams was when Oprah mentioned it on her show.

1. Brenda Rusell WROTE Get here, besides recording it first.

2. Anita Baker's first 3 albums, while all sounding the same, are classic. I can listen to them back to back all the way through over and over.

3 She said she stepped away from the biz when she wanted to focus on her family and kids

4. her voice is "different" and was turned down by many record companies at first. She doesn't sing like the typical R&B diva. to me i tsounds like a clarinet-----whereas typical soul divas are more "saxaphone" like ,,, rich, resonant etc.

5. Her reputation comes from being a perfectionist. She is very controlling on stage and in studio. Like Prince or other musicians. That doesn't mean she's a bitch.

R64, a blast from the past. I always loved that song. Thanks.

One of her best. Amazing build up from low key start.

[quote]Her reputation comes from being a perfectionist.

Her reputation comes from her being a rude, shady bitch. There are countless substantiated stories from other recording artists about her being rude to them. Rick James called her out for being nasty to everbody at some function, and said, "Anita is one of the most stuck-up bitches, I'd ever met." There was even an "Anita Baker Was Rude" Support Group on FB at one time, where people would post about their run-ins with the shady diva.

I remember hating the video where’s singing and ice skating. So cheesy.

^^ She was roller-skating and the song was fabulous.

Get Here became the unofficial anthem for many military wives during the Persian Gulf crisis. That song got on my fucking nerves.

Miss Anita Baker took time off to raise her family and look after her father, who died of bone cancer, and her mother, who died from Alzheimer's. Her return to showbiz came with little fanfare b/c frankly, the industry had moved on. You have to strike when the iron is hot, and with Anita, her mercurial temperament, indecisiveness, insecurities, and self-doubt worked against her. One minute she would be excited about a project, the next minute she would back out b/c she didn't feel it was right, then after you had already given the project to someone else, she'd call ready to do it, and when you'd tell her you gave it to someone else, she'd berate you for not waiting for her. Time is money, honey! Nobody's going to wait for your flaky ass to make up her mind!

Yeah Anita was notoriously hard to work with, but she might have gotten better now with age. But you cannot be difficult when you have a younger, sexier version of yourself on the market (Toni Braxton). Anita has also dissed artists like Miki Howard and pretty much anyone similar to her when they hit the scene in the 90s.

But she is still a legend of R&B and I'm sure her classics will influence R&B singers forever. Maxwell was enthralled with Anita's voice when he was a boy, much like Luther Vandross was with Patti Labelle. Anita was Maxwell's main musical influence when he started singing.

I remember being in 8th grade and watching Anita win Best New Artist at the Grammys over Janet Jackson (whom I had just discovered via Control album that year and thought was fab). I thought the Grammys were out of touch even then.

I do still love her song "Fairy Tales" from 1990. It's still a favorite on my playlists.

She's the only artist that I can recall who was dropped from a major label while still having a run of platinum albums. What got Miss Baker kicked to the curb? After she delayed issuing a fourth album with Warners for years she finally decided to record again around 2000 but she insisted she needed to record at home. The label grudgingly agreed and she hired a local Detroit recording truck to do the honors. She cut her first track, listened back, and heard an awful crackling noise on it. The mobile recording folks assured her that it could be removed so she cut the rest of the album with this still on it. She sent the finished album in for mastering and learned all the tapes were defective and the noise couldn't be removed. Anita sued the trucking guys and tried to blame her label as well. Litigation dragged on for years. Atlantic, tired of dealing with her mess, dropped her.

Eventually, she wound up on Blue Note but barely went gold with her rerecorded album, My Everything. She released a flop Xmas album shortly thereafter and a Tyrese cover, Lately, as a single a few years back. That's been her entire recording output this century. Anita makes Sade seem as prolific as Prince by comparison...

Anita Baker still sounds good. Toni Braxton does not.

Here is the original version of You Bring Me Joy, by Norman Connors with Ada Dyer, from 1980. It's good, but Anita truly took it to another level with her carefully building vocal and signature sound. She owned it.

People love Toni Braxton for more than just her voice at this point, which is always a good thing because you are not going to sing and make hit records forever. Anita may still sound good, but she is not likable and people avoid working with her for most part.

Toni is a much bigger star than Anita Baker, sorry. Anita wishes she had a hit as big as Un-break My Heart.

Toni has the career Anita would've had if she wasn't such a difficult person to work with. I wouldn't be surprised if she's bipolar. She has alway the signs of it.

*She has ALL the signs of it.

I love Anita Baker and think she was one of the most underrated singers of the 80s.

I'm not a big fan, but I'd still listen to any Anita Baker album over any Toni Braxton album

I like Oleta Adams' vocal on Tears for Fears' "Woman in Chains"

I'm sure Anita does not allow Toni's name to be spoken in her house or in her presence lol

Even if Anita is Satan, that voice.... We have to get it together as a culture and record this goddamn woman. You would think that having such a God given talent would make you happy.

Caught up in the rapture of you...

Same Ole Love

Look let’s not mess around — Anita’s Sweet Love is a truly magical, moving love song.

It would be so cool if Anita Baker was satan.

I prefer The Manhattan Transfer's version of Mystery to Anita's. Janis Siegel's lead vocal blows Anita out of the murky water she swims in, emulating a young Michael Jackson in some places.

[quote] Toni has the career Anita would've had if she wasn't such a difficult person to work with. I wouldn't be surprised if she's bipolar. She has alway the signs of it.

Are you kidding? Toni's main income stream is from a reality TV show. She can't tour and make money like Anita because she is unable to sing live. Toni had a debilitating illness that prevented her from completing a Vegas residency. Toni's commercial sales dropped precipitously after her second CD "Secrets." Toni released at least 4 studio albums that failed to produce a hit single or to reach any RIAA certification. Toni filed for bankruptcy TWICE. Anita was a consistent seller and financially she's set for life. If she ever needs a few coins, one short (soldout) tour and she's flush again.

OMG thank you R79, I never jnew there was an original version of You Bring me Joy. Anita's is better but the vocals on this are good too. I think the production and musical arrangement on Anita's is also better.

Thank you r93 for delivering common sense reality about Toni Braxton, who destroyed her career by radically changing her appearance and image by playing some sort of sex bomb - she lost too much weight and had too much surgery right after her first album hit! She was so appreciated for her talent and so beloved but then completely disregarded what made her a star - her talent, not her looks.

Along those lines, the Grammy Awards giving Best New Artist to Anita instead of the engineered wispy voice of Janet Jackson is an example of them making the RIGHT choice.

Back to Anita, if I recall correctly, when she left Warners, they released an anemic live album of just to spite her. I don't know of any other record company doing something so malicious. On the other hand, Anita got a severance check but then decided she did not want it on a Warners-issued check, so they had to go through Blue Note to have them issue it.

[quote]OMG thank you [R79], I never jnew there was an original version of You Bring me Joy. Anita's is better but the vocals on this are good too. I think the production and musical arrangement on Anita's is also better.

You're welcome - I actually like the original version too and think the vocals are good, but it just doesn't scale that height that Anita took it to. She improved it.

Toni got a nose job and I think that it affected her singing voice. She also got some bad implants. Allegedly one of them exploded on an airplane! The silicone got into her system and she developed lupus. Just like the actress from THE WALTONS whose name I cannot recall. Her daughter got lupus too because the silicone got into her breast milk. Implants aren’t for women. They are created for men to enjoy. Don’t do it!

It sucks that her farewell tour doesn’t include the NYC region

[quote]It sucks that her farewell tour doesn’t include the NYC region

ok so it's not that I missed it!!! I was like "where's the ny date? did I miss it?"

Club remixes would introduce her to a whole new crowd

Anita tweeted today that "more cities are calling" so hopefully she'll do a few more on this farewell tour. Seems she's appreciative now of what she has accomplished. They don't make singers like this anymore.

[quote]Toni filed for bankruptcy TWICE. Anita was a consistent seller and financially she's set for life.

Gurl, don't let me have to go into the files of celebrities who don't pay their taxes, because there you will Anita Baker. She has also been sued by pretty much everyone she's ever had a business dealing with.

Good cover

Original is often the best.

Yes, and I still play Rapture, which is on this very computer I'm posting from.

Anita Baker standing at a microphone, her stiff shouldered rocking back and forth? Legend.

The Manhattan Transfer's version of Mystery should've been a huge hit, I don't know why it wasn't. They did a beautiful job on that song.

Toni Braxton for all her alto sex cooing and breast implants has never been anywhere near as sexy as Anita Baker in a high top fade, shoulder pads and church pumps singing Sweet Love.

good point r108!

She was unlike anyone else on the radio when Rapture came out. Her sound, look and style, even the way she moved, seemed like she was from an earlier era.

I must stress that Sade’s success paved the way for Rapture. Anita’s first album didn’t do so well.

Anita knows nobody can f*ck with her. Not Toni, not anybody. She may be crazy and she may not pay her bills but she knows she's a uniquely talented artist.

She hasn’t been relevant since her last album 14 years ago. May her career RIP

I wish Ms Baker had done an album of jazz standards.

I love you just because

The young one wouldn’t know her. She has been absent too long.

I heard Get Here covered by a piano playing chanteuse at the Langham Hotel back in the 90s that was superior to both Brenda's and Oleta's versions.

R117 What has that got to do with Anita ?

me too r114

I'm a fan of Anita and Toni BUT

Phyllis Hyman was a way better singer than both of them. Her voice was more powerful, had more range and better control.

R120 It’s the emotion PH conveys

And PH is elegant and prettier too

I preferred Phyllis' brother, Buster.

Phyllis Hyman was fantastic. Sad, sad story. She should've been a major star.

I loved Anita in 'Gimme a Break'

Just as Anita paved the way for Toni to become a superstar, Phyllis paved the way for Anita to become a star. All 3 have beautiful toned contralto voices. I never turn the channel if any of them comes on. Phyllis should have been a huge superstar with multiple #1 hits though.

It's sad that there aren't any great contralto singers who are popular these days. Toni hasn't had a big hit since 2000 and Anita the early 90s

Once Clive Davis signed Whitney Houston to Arista, all of his time went into grooming her into a star, and unfortunately other artists on the label weren't given the attention or promotion they needed. Phyllis Hyman was one of those artists.

Phyllis and Clive clashed because she was not a robot who would simply do and sing whatever she was told to. She wanted input on her material and control freak Clive didn't like that. She was labeled difficult. She hated her "Riding The Tiger" era and thought it was too gimmicky. After leaving Arista she had more creative control but less backing (though she did finally get a #1 r&b hit with "Don't Wanna Change The World").

r107, Not to hijack the thread, but I saw them perform that on "Solid Gold" and immediately went out and bought the album. The only song from which that became a hit was "Spice of Life," but I like the whole album (Bodies and Souls).

Back to Anita Baker: when "Rapture" became a hit, she was on Johnny Carson and seemed so humble and grateful for her success. It's hard to believe she's a bitch.

Also, Miki Howard. Great singer similar to Anita

Clive didn't like Phyllis. Phyllis was a talent of the same calibre as Anita. She was not as lucky as Anita when it came to folks overlooking her flaws.

Phyllis Hyman was also a gorgeous woman.

I just learned this year that she is widely known as an epic cunt

Phyllis was lesbian, too. She was glorious on Broadway in Sophisticated Ladies.

I used to listen to Rapture a lot and listened to it recently - it sounds very dated. The follow up was mediocre.

To me, her music sounded like whitewashed soul pop and her voice just wasn't sophisticated.

I'll take Aretha, Gladys, Diana and Whitney anytime over AB. They were in a different category esp when they were live performers on stage.

Anita's music is not dated, it's classic. I think the 80s recordings of Aretha, Whitney, Diana and Gladys sound more dated than anything by Anita. Anita never altered her sound to try to fit a radio format. She is her own radio format -- "quiet storm"

^^^ suburban Frau ^^^

I haven't listened to her stuff in a long time, but was surprised to see it called "dated". Her music, especially her vocals, didn't really feel to me to be of its own time, so I cant imagine it being dated.

She’s more jazz soul than true soul.

Sorry, r140. I am "urban" and a "gay male. "

I was a kid when Anita had her big breakthrough and remember even at a young age finding her to be a bit of an anomaly. She seemed like an accountant who lucked into fame. This was the era of outsized young beauties like Whitney who were so glamorous and MTV ready. Anita seemed like a nice older woman who somehow stumbled into the Grammys. I couldn’t quite figure her out.

informative and interesting thread - my friend worships Anita, Sarah Vaughan and Phyllis Hyman. It was I who called him when local NBC channel announced Hyman had OD'd in her midtown apt and would not be fulfilling her Apollo gig. I liked "Same Ol Love" but the rest of Baker's canon was too smooth jazz for me. I was browsing in a Times Square "wrecka stow" (Prince's joke for record store) when the dj announced that the tall glamorous woman across the rack from me was Phyllis Hyman and then played her latest single. She was all self-deprecating and embarrassed. Clive Davis is a tool.

Phyllis was a more interesting singer than Anita ever was.

Phyllis Hyman was an incredible talent, and gorgeous too. She never got the fame she deserved.

R145 amazing story! Do you remember what the single was? Did you interact with Phyllis at all?

no I did not say anything to Ms. Hyman but I did recognize her before the d.j. - she was very elegantly dressed and I was a big music biz fan back then.

I loved the Rapture album. Someone spill the tea on Luther!

I liked her singing. I assumed she married a rich man.

I love her. Her voice takes me back to my youth.

I remember my boyfriend at the time bringing home some wench he worked with who was hot for him gush about Anita Baker. When I mentioned I liked Sade, she bitchily retorted that she was a flash in the pan. Who had the longer career?...........bitch...

Phyllis Hyman had one of the most unique voices in the profession. I LOVE her work in Bway's Sophisticated Ladies. I always felt that she didn't belong in R&B but in Jazz. Her low notes were a phenomenon.

What was Phyllis Hyman's story? Still with us?

ENOUGH about Phyllis fucking Hyman! This thread is about ME and all you delayed mutherfuckers can find one of the many Phyllis threads to discuss that cunt!

Hyman committed suicide at age 45, R155.

Never felt that Braxton was the new Baker. Very different styles and songs. I liked them both but I felt Braxton tried to hard to be a pop diva, with goofy videos and songs that eventually became interchangeable.

For those of you that think music from the '80s sounds "dated," yes, it sounds very different from the overproduced dreck being made today. It sounds a lot better.

Baker's "Body and Soul" remains one of my favorite songs.

[quote]The young one wouldn’t know her. She has been absent too long.

Yeah younger people are more likely to have grown up hearing Toni Braxton's music. Anita is an 80s classic for sure.

Loved her voice,but apparently her personality didn't thrill people.That and the bad marriage to Walter Bridgeforth (conman)seemed to end her career.She still has the chops,performs occasionally and will give you a tongue lashing if you come at her wrong....ask Jill Scott

Her voice and delivery was too creamy gooey for me...

She never had the success of Sade.

Phyllis was more interesting. Anita was formulaic in her vocal deliveries.

When Anita threw a pie at the gays for hating her stance on homosexuality

R163 when was that ?

No she didn’t, R164. She’s nit the bizarro Anita Bryant.

Hello all, for those that want to speak about the elegance and beauty that was Miss Phyllis Hyman - and not Queen Cunt Anita Baker - here is a thread.

[R63]So Baker's anti gay messages did her in? Interesting. ...yeah i haveseen her twitter and the rants.But taking her age and generational gap into consideration, iam not surprised at her comments. Am i excusing them nope,but she is not alone among celebrities who have said very "anti-gay"rants.....when will they be punished accordingly?

No that was Anita Bryant, not Baker. That poster thought he was being funny by mixing them up. Anita Baker has no issue with gays.

I’m surprised that she’s retiring from touring considering her money issues.

I remember Anita in the mid-late 1980's, all the women where I worked loved her and attended her concerts. She was huge. In 2010, she flubbed the National Anthem at the NBA Finals. Funny, I thought it was only 3 or 4 years ago. Like a number of R&B artists her age, she is dabbling in Gospel music.

she's got guts to sing the National Anthem accapella