Arthur Baker started off his musical career as a soul-loving club DJ in Boston. Although he had an affinity to the music he was playing DJing didn’t come easily to the young Baker, and he found himself easily frustrated. “If a record didn’t get a good reaction, I’d just rip it off, break it up and throw it on the dancefloor.”
His DJ career continues for the next decade or so, moving from Boston to New York where he became intrigued by the burgeoning rap scene. Soon after – and perhaps for the good of both his manicurist and concerned club owners everywhere – Baker found himself moving away from performance and focussing his efforts into production; a movement which soon bore considerable fruits. As he himself so succinctly puts it…“I was a shit DJ. And I wanted to make music, I didn’t want to play records”.
Baker himself admits he was no musician. “I just had ideas about what I wanted to do with the music. I was a DJ, I just wasn’t a good one. I’d rather make music than play it. But I knew the power of the DJ."
It was a power he was keen to exploit with collaborations with some of the pioneering artists and producers on the NY scene. He worked closely with the Latin Rascals - who went on to edit the work of pretty much every major dance music producer active during the 1980's - and Walter Gibbons, the creator of the first commercially available twelve-inch version of a song in Double Exposure's 'Ten Percent'.
He went on to work for hip-hop label Tommy Boy Records, where he produced Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force's 'Planet Rock' single, which was a hit in the summer of 1982. Baker also worked on tracks by Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan before working with soul legend Al Green in the 90’s, writing and producing the international hit ‘The Message is Love’ and the anti-handgun song ‘Leave the Guns at Home’
After a relatively quiet period during the latter part of the 90’s and early 00’s, Arthur seems once again to be picking up his production pace. 2009 saw him release two singles 'Tear Down The Walls' and 'B Boys Breakdance/Breakers Revenge', the former of which has just been remixed to tremendous effect by one of last year’s breakthrough artists; Riva Starr.
Arthur Baker is a true living legend in the world of dance music production, as his astoundingly vast body of work is one that every aspiring producer should at least in part familiarise themselves with.
Words: Greg Sawyer
‘Tear Down The Walls’ (Riva Starr Remix) is out now on Strictly Rhythm – click to listen & buy
