LaVerne Baker & The Gliders - Jim Dandy ~1956

Delores LaVern Baker (maiden name Delores Evans) was born on November 11, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Calumet City. She started singing in local clubs like the Club DeLisa in 1946, initially billed as Little Miss Sharecropper, which is also the name she first recorded under in 1949. That recording would lead to a record deal with National Records in 1951, but unfortunately the label would cease to be shortly after. She would begin recording with Okeh Records later in 1951 and went by the name Bea Baker, then switched to Delores Baker, and finally got billed as LaVern Baker when she accompanied Todd Rhodes and his band in 1952.
Her contract with Atlantic Records as solo artist started in 1953. Her first hit came in 1955 with "Tweedle Dee" which topped at No. 4 on the R&B Chart and No. 14 overall on the US Pop Chart. It was her first million seller. Georgia Gibbs recorded the same song, covering it note-for-note, blatantly copying Baker. Gibbs version reach No. 1, but when Baker attempted to sue for copyright violation, she sadly lost, however she did get Charles Diggs to lead a congressional investigation into song theft on this and a couple of other songs.
Even with these small setbacks, Baker was the second most played female artist in the US after Etta James. She would repeat her early success with more hits including "Bop-Ting-a-Ling" (No. 3 on R&B), "Play It Fair" (No. 2 on R&B), and "Still" (No. 4 on R&B). Todays song, "Jim Dandy", was released at the end of 1956 and got her all the way to No. 1 on the R&B charts and became another million seller and going gold. It was even named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll and was ranked number 343 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The hits kept coming in 1957 and 1958 and she was consistently a top seller for Atlantic, never selling LESS than 50,000 records for any release, and by 1961 she had three million-sellers to her name. She would leave Atlantic in 1964 and begin recording on Brunswick.
Baker would also appear on Ed Sullivan and Alan Freed, and would perform music for films including "Rock, Rock, Rock" and "Mr. Rock & Roll". She would also tour internationally, including Australia and the West Indies, and even becoming one of the most popular musicians in Jamaica. In 1969, she signed on for a USO tour. After one trip to Vietnam, she came down with pneumonia and recovered at the US naval base at Subic Bay, Philippines. On recommendation from a friend, she stayed at the base for 22 years as the entertainment director at the Marine Corps Staff NCO Club until the base closed in 1991. She performed in Madison Square Garden in 1988 for Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary and would also do work on more films in the late 1980's and early 1990's. She would even make it to Broadway in 1990 in the musical "Black and Blue". She would tragically have both of her legs amputated after a complication with diabetes but still continued performing. She would record her last song in 1995 and would pass away in 1997.
She became the second female solo artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, following Aretha Franklin, and was among the first group of eight recipients of the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.