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This article refers to the cooking profession. For other uses, see Baker (disambiguation)

A baker moves a tray of hot, freshly baked rolls onto a cooling rack on a ship.

A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades. The place where a baker works is called a bakery.

Origin[link]

The first group of people to bake bread were ancient Egyptians, around 8000 BC. During the Middle Ages it was common for each landlord to have a bakery, which was actually a public oven; Housewives would bring dough that they had prepared to the baker, who would tend the oven and bake them into bread. As time went on, bakers would also sell their own goods, and in that some bakers acted dishonestly, tricks emerged: for example, a baker would have trap door(s) in the oven or other obscured areas, that would allow a hidden small boy or other apprentice to take off some of the dough brought in for baking. Then the dishonest baker would sell bread made with the stolen dough as their own. This practice and others eventually lead to the famous regulation known as Assize of Bread and Ale, which prescribed harsh penalties for bakers that were found cheating their clients or customers. As a safeguard against cheating, under-filled orders, or any appearance of impropriety, bakers commonly began to throw in one more loaf of bread; this tradition now exists in the phrase "baker's dozen", which is 13.

Modern bakers[link]

Today bakers work in varying environments both as employees and sometimes owning their own stores. Bakers can be found working in:

• Large factories. These produce bread and related products which are then transported to numerous selling points throughout a region. These normally include supermarkets, convenience stores, and the like. Bakers in these environments are largely there for quality control as machines take care of much of the labour intensive aspect of the job.
• Small Independent bakeries. These are largely family-run businesses. They may specialise in particular types of products, such as sourdough.
• Chain stores. Recent years have seen the rise of chain stores selling the same range of products. Bakers in these stores bake according to a pre-determined recipe book. This can lead to frustration as some bakers do not agree with techniques used by the franchising model. However, the recipes used tend to be well-founded, and popular with the paying public.

See also[link]

• Baker's percentage
• Bread machine
• Cake shop
• Chorleywood Bread Process
• Dough
• Knead
• Pastry chef
• Pâtisserie
• Peel
• Peeta Mellark

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Baker

Gerry Rafferty
Rafferty performing at Dublin's National Stadium 6 September 1980
Background information
Birth name	Gerald Rafferty
Born	(1947-04-16)16 April 1947 Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Died	4 January 2011(2011-01-04) (aged 63) Stroud, Gloucestershire, England
Genres	Rock, pop, folk rock, blues rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, saxophone
Years active	1966–2000, 2009–2010
Labels	Transatlantic Records United Artists Records London Records Hypertension
Associated acts	The Humblebums Stealers Wheel

Gerald "Gerry" Rafferty (16 April 1947 – 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer-songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working class family in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. His mother taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy; later, he was influenced by the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan. He joined the folk-pop group The Humblebums in 1969. After they disbanded in 1971, he recorded his first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back? Rafferty and Joe Egan formed the group Stealers Wheel in 1972, producing several hits, most notably "Stuck in the Middle with You". In 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City, which included "Baker Street", his most popular song.

Early years[link]

Rafferty was born on 16 April 1947 into a working-class family in Paisley, a son and grandson of coal miners.^[1] He was a son of Mary Skeffington and Joseph Rafferty (died 1963);^[2] and had two brothers, Jim and Joe (died 1995).^[3] Rafferty grew up in a council house on the town’s Foxbar estate and was educated at St Mirin's Academy.^[3] His Irish-born father, a violent alcoholic, was a miner and lorry driver who died when Rafferty was 16.^[2] His mother was Irish/Scottish and taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy: "My father was Irish so growing up in Paisley I was hearing all these songs when I was two or three. Songs like 'She Moves Through the Fair', which my mother sings beautifully. And a whole suite of Irish traditional songs and Scots traditional songs."^[4][5] Heavily influenced by folk music and the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, the young Rafferty started to write his own material.^[3]

Foxbar in Paisley, Renfrewshire, where Gerry Rafferty grew up.

Musical career[link]

Rafferty left St. Mirin's Academy in 1963. He worked in a butcher's shop, as a civil service clerk, and in a shoe shop, although as he noted in a later interview: "But there was never anything else for me but music. I never intended making a career out of any of the jobs I did."^[6] On weekends he and a schoolfriend, Joe Egan, played in a local group named The Mavericks. In the mid 1960s Rafferty earned money, for a time, busking on the London Underground. In 1966 he was a member of the band The Fifth Column, along with future Stealers Wheel collaborator Joe Egan. The group released the single "Benjamin Day"/"There's Nobody Here" (Columbia 8068), but it was not a commercial success.

The Humblebums/Stealers Wheel[link]

In 1969 he became the third member of an existing folk-pop ensemble The Humblebums that was composed of future comedian Billy Connolly and Tam Harvey. Harvey left shortly afterwards and Rafferty and Connolly continued as a duo. They recorded two acclaimed albums for Transatlantic Records. In his own stand-up shows, Connolly has often talked about how Rafferty made him laugh and remembered the crazy things they would get up to while on tour. On one occasion Rafferty decided to look up the local Berlin telephone directory to see if there were any Hitlers registered.^[7] After the two decided to go their separate ways in 1971, Transatlantic owner Nathan Joseph signed Rafferty to a contract as a solo performer and Rafferty recorded his first solo album – Can I Have My Money Back. The album was a critical success but did not enjoy commercial success. In 1972, Rafferty and Egan formed Stealers Wheel, a group which was beset by legal wranglings, but did have a huge hit "Stuck in the Middle With You", which 20 years later was used prominently in the 1992 movie Reservoir Dogs. Stealers Wheel also produced the lesser top 50 hits, "Everything'll Turn Out Fine", followed by "Star". The duo disbanded in 1975.^[8]

City to City/Night Owl[link]

A street sign from Baker Street in central London, the inspiration for Rafferty's famous song.

Legal issues after the breakup of Stealers Wheel meant that, for three years, Rafferty was unable to release any material.^[8] After the disputes were resolved in 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City, with producer Hugh Murphy, which included the song with which he remains most identified, "Baker Street". The single reached #3 in the UK and #2 in the US.^[9] The album sold over 5.5 million copies, toppling the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack in the US on 8 July 1978.^[10] "Baker Street" featured a distinctive saxophone solo played by Raphael Ravenscroft,^[11] although the origins of the solo have been disputed.^[12][13]

As the singer recalled in a 1988 interview with Colin Irwin: "When I wrote the song I saw that bit as an instrumental part but I didn’t know what. We tried electric guitar but it sounded weak, and we tried other things and I think it was Hugh Murphy’s suggestion that we tried saxophone."^[4]

Ravenscroft said differently, saying he was presented with a song that contained "several gaps". "In fact, most of what I played was an old blues riff," stated Ravenscroft. "If you're asking me: 'Did Gerry hand me a piece of music to play?' then no, he didn't."^[14] Ravenscroft, a session musician, was in the studio to record a brief soprano saxophone part and suggested that he record the now famous break using the alto saxophone he had in his car.

In his interview with Colin Irwin, Rafferty disputed this and noted that Ravenscroft had actually been his second choice to play the saxophone solo, after Pete Zorn, who was unavailable: "The only confusion at the time that I didn’t enjoy too much was the fact that a lot of people believed that the line was written by Raphael Ravenscroft, the sax player, but it was my line. I sang it to him."^[4] When a remastered version of City to City was released in 2011, it included the original, electric guitar version of the song, confirming Rafferty's authorship of the riff. In the liner notes to the album, Rafferty's long-time friend and collaborator Rab Noakes commented: "Let's hope [the Baker Street demo] will, at last, silence all who keep on asserting that the saxophone player came up with the melody line. He didn't. He just blew what he was told by the person who did write it, Gerry Rafferty.^[13] Michael Gray, Rafferty's former manager, agreed: "The audible proof is there from the demos that Rafferty himself created the riff and placed it within the song's structure exactly where it ended up."^[15]

The song remains a mainstay of soft-rock radio airplay^[14] and, in October 2010, it was recognised by the BMI for surpassing 5 million plays worldwide. "Stuck in the Middle With You" has received over 4 million plays worldwide, and "Right Down The Line" has had over 3 million plays^[16]

"Right Down the Line" was the second single from City to City. The song made #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks charts in the US. It remained at the top of the adult contemporary chart for four non-consecutive weeks. The third single from the album, "Home and Dry", reached #28 in the US Top 40 in early 1979.^[17] One of the lesser known songs from that time is "Big Change in the Weather" (the B-side of "Baker Street").^[18]

An irony of the success of "Baker Street" was that the lyrics reflected Rafferty’s disenchantment with certain elements of the music industry. This irony was elaborated on by music journalist Paul Gambaccini for BBC World News:.^[19]

His next album, Night Owl, also did well. Guitarist Richard Thompson helped by performing on the track "Take The Money and Run", and the title track was a UK #5 hit in 1979. "Days Gone Down" reached #17 in the US. The follow-up single "Get It Right Next Time" made the UK and US Top 40.

Snakes and Ladders/Sleepwalking/North And South[link]

Several of Gerry Rafferty's solo albums, including City to City and Night Owl and parts of Snakes and Ladders and Sleepwalking, were recorded at Chipping Norton Recording Studios, which occupied this grade II listed building at 28/30 New Street, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire from 1972 until its closure in 1999.^[20]

Subsequent albums, such as Snakes and Ladders (1980), Sleepwalking (1982), and North and South (1988), fared less well, perhaps due partly to Rafferty's longstanding reluctance to perform live, which he felt uncomfortable with.^[12][21]

The deeply introspective lyrics of the 1982 album Sleepwalking suggested Rafferty found success far from glamorous: songs like "Standing at the Gates", "Change of Heart", and "The Right Moment" suggest the singer was exhausted, burnt-out, and desperately seeking a new direction. Liner notes for the compilation album Right Down the Line (prepared with Rafferty's close cooperation^[22]) confirmed this several years later, noting the singer was now "finding himself at the crossroads and looking to replace the treadmill with a new dimension in his life".^[23] In 1983, Rafferty announced his intention to take a break and devote more time to his family: "It dawned on me that since Baker Street I had been touring the world, travelling everywhere and seeing nowhere. Whatever I do in the future, it's at my own pace, on my own terms."^[24]

Based at 16th-century^[25] Tye Farm in Hartfield, near the Kent-Sussex border, Rafferty installed electric gates to protect his privacy, built a recording studio, and worked largely by himself^[26] or with Hugh Murphy.^[4][27] According to his former wife Carla, who discouraged visitors: "He was just stalling for time. Maybe some new project would suddenly happen, but I knew he'd crossed the line as far as the record business went."^[27] It was six years before he released his next record, North and South. In his 1988 interview with Colin Irwin, to promote the album, Rafferty mentioned that he was interested in doing more production work, writing film soundtracks, and even floated the idea of writing a musical about the life of Robert Louis Stevenson.^[4]

Rafferty collaborated with several other artists during this time. In 1980, he and Murphy produced a record for Richard and Linda Thompson; though never released, it eventually evolved into their album Shoot Out the Lights.^[4] It was also during this period that Rafferty sang the Knopfler-penned song "The Way It Always Starts" (1983) on the soundtrack of the film Local Hero, and co-produced The Proclaimers first UK hit single "Letter from America" in 1987 with Hugh Murphy.^[28] In the early 1990s, Rafferty recorded a cover version of the Bob Dylan song "The Times They Are a-Changin'" with Barbara Dickson, who had contributed backing vocals to both City to City and Night Owl. The track appeared on Dickson's albums Don't Think Twice It's All Right (1992) and The Barbara Dickson Collection (2006).^[29]

On a Wing and a Prayer/Over My Head[link]

Rafferty released two further albums in the 1990s in what musician Tom Robinson later described as "a major return to form".^[30] On a Wing and a Prayer (1992) reunited him with his Stealers Wheel partner Egan on several tracks. It included three tracks cowritten with Rafferty's brother Jim, also a singer-songwriter, who had been signed to Decca Records in the 1970s. Rafferty recorded a new version of his Humblebums song "Her Father Didn't Like Me Anyway" on the album Over My Head (1994). These were the last two records Rafferty produced with Hugh Murphy, who died in 1998. According to guitarist Hugh Burns, Murphy's death was "a great blow to Gerry"^[30] and marked the end of a creative partnership that had lasted almost 30 years.

Another World/Life Goes On[link]

By the end of the 1990s, new technology enabled Rafferty to distance himself even further from the conventional approach of the music industry and work entirely on his own terms. Now based in London, he employed sound engineer Giles Twigg to assemble a Digidesign mobile recording studio and, with Twigg's help, recorded the album Another World in London, Scotland, Barbados, France, and Italy with collaborators from previous albums, including Hugh Burns, Mark Knopfler, Kenny Craddock, and Mo Foster.^[31][32] Through his company Icon Music, Rafferty promoted and sold the album independently on a website (www.gerryrafferty.com) created specifically for the purpose.

Another World, released in 2000, was originally available only via direct order from his website,^[33] but since 2003 is available on the Hypertension label. Another World, almost an esoteric work, also with assistance of Mark Knopfler and Egan, featured an album cover illustrated by John 'Patrick' Byrne, who also illustrated the covers for Can I Have My Money Back?, City to City, Night Owl, and Snakes and Ladders, and all three Stealers Wheel albums. Byrne was also responsible for one of Rafferty's most prized possessions^[34]: a hand-painted Martin acoustic guitar bearing his portrait and the name 'Gerry Rafferty', which features in many photographs of the singer.^[6][23]

Another World marked a new departure for the singer. As he explained in a press release heralding the new record in November 2000: "My heart and soul have gone into this album, and by releasing it in this way my creative influence has not been diluted in any way."^[35] Finally, thanks to the Internet, it seemed Rafferty no longer needed the music industry: technology was allowing him to put his music directly in the hands of an appreciative audience. In a blog posting dated 31 March 2004 he wrote: "Let's get back to music: after all that's the only reason that this website has been set up." Another posting announced that Rafferty would begin to release music regularly as free downloads: "In reality, Gerry could put a new track out every two weeks or so. We will keep you informed of developments as they happen."^[36] Only a handful of tracks were ever released, however, and the website eventually closed down without any explanation.

In 2009 Rafferty released Life Goes On, again on Hypertension. This album features a mixture of new recordings, covers of Christmas carols and traditional songs that had previously been available as downloads on his web site, and edited tracks from his previous three albums.^[37]

Posthumous[link]

Rafferty's death in January 2011 rekindled interest in the singer's work. According to his daughter Martha, interviewed by Glasgow's Sunday Mail some months later: "What surprised me most was the reaction on the internet. "Baker Street" had two million hits in the two days after his death and he was the third most talked about subject on Twitter."^[21] In May 2011, Martha Rafferty launched an official Facebook page named "The REAL Gerry Rafferty Page" as a tribute to her father.^[38] In September 2011, EMI issued a remastered, collector's edition of City to City featuring previously unheard demo versions of "Baker Street", "Mattie's Rag", "City to City", and other tracks from the album.

Attitude to the music industry[link]

Rafferty drew a clear distinction between the artistic integrity of a musician, on the one hand, and the music industry's need to create celebrities and sell products, on the other. In an interview with Colin Irwin in 1988, he said: "There's a thin line between being a songwriter and a singer and being a personality... If you feel uncomfortable with it you shouldn't do it. It's not for me – there are too many inherent contradictions."^[4] Two decades later, speaking to the press after Rafferty's funeral, Charlie Reid of The Proclaimers confirmed Rafferty's dislike of celebrity: "He was not entirely comfortable with fame. Even more so than most people who work in this business, he saw it as not a good thing".^[39] Reid believed Rafferty was fundamentally unsuited to the pressures of celebrity: "He struck me as a very, very sensitive man and for someone like that, fame was probably not appropriate."^[40]

Generally an autobiographical writer,^[6] Rafferty returned to this theme often, in the lyrics of Stealers Wheel songs such as "Star", "Stuck in the Middle With You", and "Good Businessman", and later solo tracks like "Take the Money and Run" (from Night Owl), "Welcome to Hollywood" (from Snakes and Ladders), and "Sleepwalking" (from the album of the same name). The liner notes to the compilation album Right Down the Line, written by Jerry Gilbert with Rafferty's close cooperation, note his consistent refusal to tour the USA and "generally 'play the industry game'."^[23] It was ironic that Rafferty—a lover and collector of religious icons, who would later name one of his publishing companies "Icon Music"^[41]—was also an iconoclast.^[23] According to Michael Gray, Rafferty's personal manager at the height of his success, he turned down many opportunities to work with other artists:^[27] "... he retained a healthy scepticism not just about the music industry but about society, money and politics in general. His background was soaked in Scottish socialism and poverty, his mind sharp and his personality acerbic, and he wasn't going to be dazzled by the glamour of success."^[42]

Rafferty never changed his mind about the music business; if anything, his views hardened. In 2000, he told the Paisley Daily Express that the second Stealers Wheel album, released in 1974, had been named Ferguslie Park, after a deprived^[43] area of Paisley, "to get as far away as possible from all the bullshit of the music industry in London."^[6] In a November 2009 interview with the Sunday Express, he said: "The music industry... is something I loathe and detest. It conjures up images of a gigantic factory spewing out parts of the machine. In many respects, this of course is exactly what it is now. Pumping out s**t like there’s no tomorrow."^[44] The last word came from Monsignor John Tormey, celebrating Rafferty's funeral mass, who suggested the singer's attitude to fame was an indication of his spiritual integrity: "He always searched for a more authentic way to live his life, shunning the outward trappings of celebrity so that he might live as he chose to live his life."^[39]

Personal life[link]

Rafferty met Carla Ventilla (a 15-year-old apprentice hairdresser from an Italian family in Clydebank) at a dancehall in 1965—a story he later recounted in the song "Shipyard Town" on the album North and South. They married in 1970 and lived in Scotland with their daughter, Martha, before moving to the south of England in the late 1970s,^[12] where they divided their time between their farm near the Kent-Sussex border and a home in Hampstead, London.^[27] Rafferty's lengthy commutes from London to Scotland inspired a number of songs on the album City to City (including the title track and "Mattie's Rag", which recounted his delight at being reunited with his daughter), while the later move south inspired "The Garden of England" (from the album Snakes and Ladders) and a number of songs on North and South. After the completion of Another World, Rafferty planned to move back to Scotland and bought "a substantial listed 1860s mansion" in the Highland village of Strathpeffer,^[45] although he sold the property two years later and never actually moved in.^[46]

Alcoholism[link]

Rafferty had always enjoyed alcohol^{[12][21][30][47]} and early songs, such as "One Drink Down", "Baker Street", and "Night Owl", freely mention the subject. He told friends that his alcoholism dated back to his childhood,^[48] though even people close to him had no idea how it would come to dominate his life. Martha Rafferty believes her father started drinking heavily to cope with the pressures of playing on stage, but says his problem "wasn't obvious" for many years.^[21] According to Michael Gray, the singer's personal manager in the early 1980s: "It never occurred to me in all the time I knew him that he was heading for alcoholism. Maybe I should have realised, but I didn't. I'm unsure whether he did."^[42] As the 1980s progressed, Rafferty's growing drinking problem placed his marriage under impossible strain^[27] and his wife divorced him in 1990,^[49] though they remained close.^[27] In 1995, Rafferty was deeply affected by the death of his older brother Joseph, an event from which family and friends have said he never fully recovered.^[47][50]

In the late 1980s, Rafferty had told journalist Colin Irwin "I was always very conscious about keeping a low profile because that's the way I like to go about it. And I don't plan to be in the public eye too much now either."^[4] However, in the last decade of his life, having taken pains to shun the fame and celebrity that accompanied his musical achievements, Rafferty found himself making headlines once again as he struggled with alcoholism and depression and the increasingly erratic behaviour they spawned.^[51]

In April 2005, Rafferty was admitted to St Mary's Hospital in London after collapsing at his Hampstead home. According to a later report in the Daily Mail, Rafferty quashed rumours that he had taken an overdose of prescription drugs^[50] and revealed the cause "was actually a drunken fall down the stairs which produced a nasty head injury".^[52]

Rafferty later sold his London home and moved to California, where his daughter was then living, but often flew back to the UK. In 2006, the Daily Mail reported that the singer had been taken by police in a wheelchair to a Church of Scotland drying-out clinic after arriving in Inverness drunk on a private plane flight after a "ten-hour bender".^[53]

While the news stories focused on Rafferty's binges, they revealed nothing of his private struggle with alcohol or the impact on his family and friends. His fiancee Enzina Fuschini said he "felt that he was under some sort of evil spell. He felt crippled by it... I saw a man in despair",^[47] while his daughter Martha, interviewed by Graham Stellard after her father's death, revealed that Rafferty had "tried all the normal routes of abstaining or getting help but he wasn't able to do it... I tried everything I could. It was extremely painful to see him live out his life through alcoholism... It tore me apart on a daily basis."^[21]

Disappearance[link]

In 2008, Rafferty moved away from California and briefly rented a home in Ireland, where his drinking soon became a problem again.^[27] In July that year, it was rumoured that his friend and former musical partner Billy Connolly had arranged for the singer to enter rehab.^[54] But Rafferty apparently checked himself out and flew to London instead, where he holed up in the five-star Westbury Hotel in Mayfair and began a four-day drinking session that left his room extensively damaged. Speaking to the Telegraph later, the hotel's director, Alex Huggan commented: "It was such a shame. In person, Mr Rafferty was a really nice man, he kept himself to himself and didn't bother the other guests but he was clearly on a downward spiral. He was in self-destruct mode."^[55]

There were conflicting reports about what happened next. The newspaper Scotland on Sunday reported that Rafferty had been asked to leave the hotel and had then checked himself into St Thomas' Hospital suffering from a chronic liver condition, brought on by heavy drinking. The same report claimed that on 1 August 2008, Rafferty had disappeared, leaving his belongings behind, and that the hospital had filed a missing persons report.^[14] However no such missing persons report existed.^[55] On 17 February 2009, The Guardian reported that Rafferty was in hiding in the south of England, being cared for by a friend.^[56] Subsequently, Rafferty's spokesperson Paul Charles told The Independent newspaper that he had been in touch with Rafferty two weeks previously and that he was alive and well but had no plans to either record or tour.^[56] This was then contradicted by a further report in The Daily Telegraph on the following day which quoted from a statement by his solicitors issued to Channel 4 News: "Contrary to reports, Gerry is extremely well and has been living in Tuscany for the last six months… he continues to compose and record new songs and music… and he hopes to release a new album of his most recent work in the summer of this year [2009]."^[57][58] The album, titled Life Goes On, was released in November 2009.^[37]

The mystery surrounding Rafferty's disappearance was only clarified later. In November 2009, Rafferty told a journalist from the Sunday Express that he had been living in Florence, Italy, splitting his time between a home in Dorset and visits to Scotland each year.^[44] But a slightly different story emerged after his death. After leaving St Thomas' Hospital, and while claiming to be in Tuscany, he was quietly moving from one London hotel to another. It was during this time that he met Enzina Fuschini, an Italian artist and designer from Dorset. Rafferty and Fuschini fell in love and rented a large home together in Upton, near Poole.^[59] During 2009, Fuschini cared for the singer and tried to help him overcome his alcoholism, and Rafferty proposed to Fuschini at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on Christmas Eve 2009.^[47][48]

Death[link]

In November 2010, Rafferty was admitted to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, where he was put on a life-support machine and treated for multiple organ failure. After being taken off life support, Rafferty rallied for a short time, and it seemed that he might recover.^[60][61] Rafferty died at his daughter Martha's home in Stroud, Gloucestershire^[62][63] on January 4, 2011, of liver failure.

Wikinews has related news: Over 400 attend Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty's funeral

A Requiem Mass was held for Rafferty at St Mirin's Cathedral in his native town of Paisley on Friday 21 January 2011. Politicians in attendance were the First Minister of Scotland the Right Honorable Alex Salmond MSP, Wendy Alexander MSP, Hugh Henry MSP, and Robin Harper MSP. Musicians present included Craig and Charlie Reid of The Proclaimers, former bandmates Joe Egan and Rab Noakes, Barbara Dickson, and Graham Lyle. The eulogy was given by Rafferty's longtime friend John Byrne. His remains were then cremated at the Woodside Crematorium in Paisley^[64] and his ashes scattered on the island of Iona.^[65] He is survived by his daughter, granddaughter Celia and brother Jim.^[2]

Tributes[link]

Newspapers printed lengthy obituaries for the singer; in The Guardian, Michael Gray charted Rafferty's long downward spiral into alcoholism,^[27] while a full-page obituary in The Times summarized his career more positively: "As well as being a singer of considerable talent who at one time had the pop world at his feet, Gerry Rafferty was also a consummate songwriter, blessed with sensitivity and an enviable melodic flair that at its best recalled Paul McCartney."^[66]

Other entertainers also paid tribute to Rafferty, with comedian and ex-bandmate Billy Connolly calling him "a hugely talented songwriter and singer who will be greatly missed" and musician Tom Robinson saying, "His early work with Stealers Wheel was an inspiration to a whole generation of songwriters in the 70s, including me."^[67] Speaking after the funeral, Charlie Reid of The Proclaimers said: "I think Gerry Rafferty was one of the few people who really successfully straddled the worlds of both folk and popular music. He did it really well and he was respected in both camps."^[40] Barbara Dickson also paid tribute to her friend, whom she described as a "luminous, glorious Scottish musician".^[5] A spokesperson for Rafferty's last record label, Hypertension, commented that he "was a major talent. His songwriting, production and the way he sang his songs, with that beautiful voice of his, was truly wonderful and inspiring."^[68]

The reaction of younger artists suggests Rafferty's music has also inspired a new generation of fans. Shortly after news of the singer's death, Lily Allen tweeted the message "Rest in Peace Gerry x" with a video link to the song "Right Down the Line",^[69] reputedly one of her favourite music tracks.^[70] Electropop star Elly Jackson described "Right Down the Line" as "my favourite track of all time. It makes me think of home, nostalgia and happiness."^[70] Bonnie Raitt recorded a reggae treatment of "Right Down the Line" for her Slipstream album released 10 April 2012.

Will and legal dispute over estate[link]

In October 2011, newspapers reported that Rafferty's immediate family were the beneficiaries of his £1.25 million estate: his daughter Martha inherited a house and its contents in California, while his granddaughter Celia inherited, in trust, the rights to Rafferty's songs and any future royalties. Rafferty had apparently not changed his will after meeting his fiancee Enzina Fuschini in the autumn of 2008 and left her nothing.^[71][72] Several months later, in January 2012, the Daily Mail reported^[73] that Fuschini had launched a High Court legal action against Martha and Celia Rafferty seeking a share of the will under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975^[74], which allows financial dependents of a deceased person to claim "reasonable financial provision".

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Chart singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Gerry Rafferty

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gerry Rafferty

• The Official World of Gerry Rafferty: Official tribute website run by Martha Rafferty.
• BBC Obituary, 4 January 2011
• The Guardian obituary - Singer and songwriter known for Stuck in the Middle With You and Baker Street
• Gerry Rafferty at Allmusic
• Gerry Rafferty Message Board http://s2.excoboard.com/GerryRafferty

Shaun Baker

Shaun Baker is a DJ from the north of England but has for over 20 years been based in Paderborn, Germany. He has been playing the worldwide club scene over 20 years. Together with his friend and partner Sebastian Wolter he also produces music. This musical partnership has over the past few years given the dance scene some great tracks to dance to, for example "Xplode 2" which hit the number 1 position in every German dance chart at the same time.

Other singles are "Push" (also a dance chart & sales hit) and "Bakerman", a co-op with the cult stars Laid Back from Denmark. Laid Back were so impressed with the new version of Bakerman they hooked Shaun Baker & Sebastian Wolter up with Lars von Trier, the world-famous film director from Denmark who has produced the video clip for the original version of Bakerman. He gave permission to use the original video for their version. It was #1 in most German dance charts again and the peak position in the German sale charts was 39. The next single “V.I.P.” released February 2007 performed well in Germany but received fantastic results in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. ” V.I.P.” hit the #1 position in the dance, radio and sale charts in both countries. Late summer 2007 he and Sebastian Wolter found their own record label called Uptunes. The debut release from Uptunes was his next single “Power” which is based on the very popular “Xplode” sound, but this time featuring singing vocals made the peak positions in various dance charts in Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. “Power” also led the German dance download charts. According to Uptunes the album is being prepared and the expected release date is planned for summer 2008. The next single “Hey Hi Hello” features a remix from Alex Christensen and will be released first in Slovakia and the Czech Republic this spring and later in Germany and elsewhere.

In the 2008 he took main theme song from Czech/East German fairytale movie Three nuts for Cinderella (Tři oříšky pro Popelku, songwriter Karel Svoboda) and remixed it as song Could You Would You Should You. There are mixed reactions to this, mainly due the great popularity of original song.

Releases[link]

• Shaun Baker The Madman - Saaax!!! (1997)
• DJs Delay - Engage
• Shaun Baker - Japan (0000)
• K.K.System - Fax u.
• Shaun Baker - Pizza!
• Shaun Baker - On a Helium Trip
• Santoshi - The Law
• Shaun Baker - Somebody
• 3 Years 3 Days - Temple of Dance
• Shaun Baker - Back in Town
• Jordan & Baker - Explode (2002)
• Santoshi vs Marco Wong - Excess
• Bubbleheadz - Young
• Boo Selekta - F*ck U Up(Nobody listens to Hip Hop) (2003)
• Shaun Baker & Marc van Linden - Sex on the Streets
• Jordan & Baker - Millions
• Shaun Baker presents A & B Brothers - Music Love & Money
• Shaun Baker - The Works PT 01.(2003)
• Shaun Baker - Be Free
• Black Dildo - Freestyle F*cker
• A&B Brothers feat. Searo - Domo
• Clubbasse & The Baker - Worldwide
• Avilyn - Bango
• Axel Bust vs Locana - Yo Mom
• Shaun Baker - Xplode 2 (2005)
• Shaun Baker - Push! / Deep (2006)
• Shaun Baker - Bakerman (feat. Laid Back) (2006) #22 PL, #23 CZ
• Shaun Baker - V.I.P (feat. Maloy) (2007) #3 PL, #2 CZ,
• Shaun Baker - Power (2007)
• Shaun Baker - Hey Hi Hello (feat. Maloy) (2008) #15 PL, #1 CZ
• Shaun Baker - Could You Would You Should You (2008) #10 CZ
• Shaun Baker VS Dance Nation-Sunshine (2009)
• Shaun Baker - Give (feat. Maloy) (2009) #22 CZ
• Shaun Baker - Frontline (2010)
• Shaun Baker - Addiction (feat. Jessia Jean & Discomakers) (2011)

External links[link]

• official Homepage
• official Booking Agency
• Uptunes
• Sebastian Wolter

This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (February 2009)

Antwuan Willis "Big Kandy" Dixon (born August 19, 1988)^[1] is a professional skateboarder who rides for Baker Skateboards' sister company Deathwish Skateboards. Dixon was alternately featured in their promotional video Baker Has a Deathwish.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born in Victorville, California and raised in Carson, Dixon received his first skateboard from his older brother who had stolen it from a kid, while hanging out at a local recreational park. One of his earliest experiences on a skateboard, include an accident in which he rolled off of a car, subsequently busting his eye open. The incident occurred after he found himself challenged by his brother to do something bold, leaving the top part of the younger Dixon's head permanently scarred.^[2]

On March 22, 2008, Antwuan Dixon was arrested by Tampa police on charges stemming from possession of marijuana (less than 20 grams) and cocaine with the intent to sell, as well as the battery of 3 law enforcement officers. Dixon was irrevocably held on $4,000 dollars bond, which was subsequently paid for his immediate release.^[1]

In an interview for Skateboardermag, Dixon spoke on the incident:

Ah, man, some crazy shit happened at Tampa! I was just over there chilling, smoking, and I'm chilling outside paying for that tatoo dude and this girl to get in. Then, all of a sudden, this girl's like, "Antwuan, you wanna go smoke?" So we go and we're about to smoke these blunts, then this truck rolls up and it's undercover cops. They just jumped out. Then, this lady had seen I had a big-ass bag of weed and shit. She'd seen my money and thought I was a drug dealer from out there. They were talking about seizing my money, and I was like, "I don't know what that means," and they're, like, "We're basically gonna take your money when we leave here," and I'm, like, "Hell no!" I'm sitting there being handcuffed and shit, so I got up and grabbed my wallet and then I held it. Then me and the cops started fighting for a little bit I guess. I don't know, I was pretty faded. I don't remember. Next thing you know, I end up in jail in Florida with all these batteries against police officers. Now I got to go to court and stuff all the time...^[2]

Tattoos[link]

Dixon has extensive tattooing including full sleeves, upper torso, face, head and hands. Several elaborate designs incorporate his birth date (est. 8/19/88), and a reference to his brother's incarceration, (Free Killa Dee)'uu9u99u'.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Baker Skateboards soundboard
• Baker Skateboards bio
• Official Deathwish Skateboards website
• Official KR3W press page
• Official MySpace page
• Antwuan Dixon Subpublic Profile

Chet Baker
Background information
Birth name	Chesney Henry Baker, Jr.
Born	(1929-12-23)December 23, 1929 Yale, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died	May 13, 1988(1988-05-13) (aged 58) Amsterdam, Netherlands
Genres	West Coast Jazz
Occupations	Trumpeter Jazz singer
Instruments	Trumpet Vocals Flugelhorn Piano[1]
Years active	1949–1988[2]
Associated acts	Gerry Mulligan Art Pepper

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and singer.

In the 1950s, Baker earned much attention and critical praise, particularly for albums featuring his vocals, such as Chet Baker Sings. Jazz historian David Gelly descibed the promise of Baker's early career as seemingly representing "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one."^[3] However, his "well-publicized drug habit"^[4] also drove his notoriety and fame, as Baker was in-and-out of jail for much of his life before enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1970s and '80s.

Baker died in 1988 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.^[5]

Biography[link]

Early days[link]

Baker was born and raised in a musical household in Yale, Oklahoma; his father was a professional guitar player. Baker began his musical career singing in a church choir. His father introduced him to brass instruments with a trombone, which was replaced with a trumpet when the trombone proved too large.

Baker received some musical education at Glendale Junior High School, but left school at age 16 in 1946 to join the United States Army. He was posted to Berlin where he joined the 298th Army band. Leaving the army in 1948, he studied theory and harmony at El Camino College in Los Angeles. He dropped out in his second year, however, re-enlisting in the army in 1950. Baker became a member of the Sixth Army Band at the Presidio in San Francisco, but was soon spending time in San Francisco jazz clubs such as Bop City and the Black Hawk. Baker once again obtained a discharge from the army to pursue a career as a professional musician.

Career breakthrough[link]

Baker's earliest notable professional gigs were with saxophonist Vido Musso's band, and also with tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, though he earned much more renown in 1951 when he was chosen by Charlie Parker to play with him for a series of West Coast engagements.^[6]

In 1952, Baker joined the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, which was an instant phenomenon. Several things made the Mulligan/Baker group special, the most prominent being the interplay between Mulligan's baritone sax and Baker's trumpet. Rather than playing identical melody lines in unison like bebop giants Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, the two would complement each other's playing with contrapuntal touches, and it often seemed as if they had telepathy in anticipating what the other was going to play next. The Quartet's version of "My Funny Valentine", featuring a memorable Baker solo, was a major hit, and became a song with which Baker was intimately associated.

The Quartet found success quickly, but lasted less than a year because of Mulligan's arrest and imprisonment on drug charges. In 1956, Pacific Jazz released Chet Baker Sings, a record that increased his profile but alienated traditional jazz fans; he would continue to sing throughout his career. Baker formed quartets with Russ Freeman in 1953-54 with bassists Carson Smith, Joe Mondragon, and Jimmy Bond and drummers Shelly Manne, Larry Bunker, and Bob Neel. The quartet was successful in their three live sets in 1954. In that year, Baker won the Downbeat Jazz Poll. Because of his chiseled features, Hollywood studios approached Baker and he made his acting debut in the film Hell's Horizon, released in the fall of 1955. He declined an offer of a studio contract, preferring life on the road as a musician. Over the next few years, Baker fronted his own combos, including a 1955 quintet featuring Francy Boland, where Baker combined playing trumpet and singing. He became an icon of the West Coast "cool school" of jazz, helped by his good looks and singing talent. Baker's 1956 recording, released for the first time in its entirety in 1989 as The Route, with Art Pepper helped further the West Coast jazz sound and became a staple of cool jazz.

Drug addiction and decline[link]

Baker was a heroin user from the 1950s for the remainder of his life, and eventually saw his musical career decline as a result. At times, Baker pawned his instruments for money to maintain his drug habit. In the early 1960s, he served more than a year in prison in Italy on drug charges; he was later expelled from both West Germany and the UK for drug-related offenses. Baker was eventually deported from West Germany to the United States after running afoul of the law there a second time. He settled in Milpitas in northern California where he played in San Jose and San Francisco between short jail terms served for prescription fraud.^[5]

In 1966, Baker was savagely beaten (allegedly while attempting to buy drugs) after a gig in San Francisco, sustaining severe cuts on the lips and broken front teeth, which ruined his embouchure. He stated in the film Let's Get Lost that an acquaintance attempted to rob him one night but backed off, only to return the next night with a group of several men who chased him. He landed finally in a car where he was surrounded. Instead of rescuing him, the people inside the car pushed him back out onto the street where the chase by his attackers continued, and subsequently, he was beaten to the point that his teeth, never in good condition to begin with, were knocked out, leaving him without the ability to play his horn. He took odd jobs, among them pumping gas. Meanwhile he was fitted for dentures and worked on his embouchure. Three months later he got a gig in New York.

Between 1966 and 1974, Baker mostly played flugelhorn and recorded music that could mostly be classified as West Coast jazz.^[5]

Comeback and later career[link]

After developing a new embouchure resulting from dentures, Baker returned to the straight-ahead jazz that began his career, relocating to New York City and began performing and recording again, notably with guitarist Jim Hall. Later in the seventies, Baker returned to Europe where he was assisted by his friend Diane Vavra, who took care of his personal needs and otherwise helped him during his recording and performance dates.

From 1978 until his death in 1988, Baker resided and played almost exclusively in Europe, returning to the USA roughly once per year for a few performance dates.

Chet Baker with Stan Getz in 1983

This was Baker's most prolific era as a recording artist. However, as his extensive output is strewn across numerous, mostly small European labels, none of these recordings ever reached a wider audience, even though many of them were well-received by critics, who maintain that the period was one of Baker's most mature and rewarding. Of particular importance are Baker's quartet featuring the pianist Phil Markowitz (1978–80) and his trio with guitarist Philip Catherine and bassist Jean-Louis Rassinfosse (1983–85). He also toured with saxophonist Stan Getz during this period.

In 1983, British singer Elvis Costello, a longtime fan of Baker, hired the trumpeter to play a solo on his song "Shipbuilding", from the album Punch the Clock. The song was a top 40 hit in the UK, and exposed Baker's music to a new audience. Later, Baker often featured Costello's song "Almost Blue" (inspired by Baker's version of "The Thrill Is Gone") in his live sets, and recorded the song on Let's Get Lost, a documentary film about his life.

The video material recorded by Japanese television during Baker's 1987 tour in Japan showed a man whose face looked much older than he was; but his trumpet playing was alert, lively and inspired. Fans and critics alike agree that the live album Chet Baker in Tokyo, recorded less than a year before his death and released posthumously, ranks among Baker's very best. "Silent Nights", another critically acclaimed release, and Baker's only recording of Christmas music, was recorded with Christopher Mason in New Orleans in 1986 and released in 1987.

Chet Baker's compositions included "Chetty's Lullaby", "Freeway", "Early Morning Mood", "Two a Day", "So Che Ti Perderò" ("I Know I Will Lose You"), "Il Mio Domani" ("My Tomorrow"), "Motivo Su Raggio Di Luna" ("Tune on a Moon Beam"), "The Route", "Skidadidlin'", "New Morning Blues", "Blue Gilles", "Dessert", and "Anticipated Blues".

Death[link]

At about 3 am on May 13, 1988, Baker was found dead on Prins Hendrikkade, near Zeedijk, on the street below his second-story room (Room 210) of Hotel Prins Hendrik in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with serious wounds to his head. Heroin and cocaine were found in his hotel room, and an autopsy also found these drugs in his body. There was no evidence of a struggle, and the death was ruled an accident.

Baker's body was brought home for interment in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California, USA. A plaque outside the Hotel Prins Hendrik now memorializes him.

Legacy[link]

Plaque in Amsterdam

Jeroen de Valk has written a biography of Baker which is available in several languages: Chet Baker: His Life and Music is the English translation, Chet Baker: Herinneringen aan een lyrisch trompettist (remembrances of a lyrical trumpet player) is the Dutch edition (updated and expanded in 2007),^[7] and it is also published in Japan and Germany. James Gavin has also written a biography: Deep In A Dream — The Long Night of Chet Baker. Baker's "lost memoirs" are available in the book As Though I Had Wings, which includes an introduction by Carol Baker.^[5]

Baker was immortalized by the photographer William Claxton in his book Young Chet: The Young Chet Baker. An Academy Award-nominated 1988 documentary about Baker, Let's Get Lost, portrays him as a cultural icon of the 1950s, but juxtaposes this with his later image as a drug addict. The film, directed by fashion photographer Bruce Weber, was shot in black-and-white and includes a series of interviews with friends, family (including his three children by third wife Carol Baker), associates and women friends, interspersed with film from Baker's earlier life, and with interviews with Baker from his last years.

Time after Time: The Chet Baker Project, written by playwright James O'Reilly, toured Canada in 2001 to much acclaim.^[8] The musical play Chet Baker - Speedball, explores aspects of his life and music, and was premiered in London at the Oval House Theatre in February 2007, with further development of the script and performances leading to its revival at the 606 Club in the London Jazz Festival of November 2007.

Baker was reportedly the inspiration for the character Chad Bixby, played by Robert Wagner in the 1960 film All the Fine Young Cannibals. He was also the inspiration for the lead character in Fabrizio Federico's film Black Biscuit. Another film, to be titled Prince of Cool, about Baker's life, was cancelled as of January 2008.^[9]

The song "Chet Baker", which appears on the 2007 CD Wally Page and Johnny Mulhern: Live at the Annesley House, by Irish folk singer-songwriter Wally Page, describes the end of Baker's life in Amsterdam.

Honors[link]

• In 1987 he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
• In 1989 he was elected to Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame by that magazine's Critics Poll.
• In 1991 he was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.
• In 2005 Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and the Oklahoma House of Representatives proclaimed July 2 as “Chet Baker Day”.
• In 2007 Mayor of the City of Tulsa Kathy Taylor proclaimed December 23 as “Chet Baker Day”.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chet Baker Foundation
• Chet Baker at the Internet Movie Database
• Chet Baker at Find a Grave
• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Baker, Chet