'No One In The World'

The first time I heard Anita Baker I was back in Akron, Ohio and a new group called Chapter 8 had just come out and Anita Baker was the lead singer. I was in high school and it was about 1975. I thought 'what a beautiful voice'. We followed the group Chapter 8 because we loved their music. The group really didn't do that well but we still enjoyed their music.

I remember hearing Anita Baker later, after I was out here in California, with her single 'Angel' from the Songstress album which was released in 1983.

After I left SWITCH I sang on quite a few song demos. A song demo is where a songwriter has a song that they want to pitch to an artist and they will hire a singer to sing the song for them. I did quite a few song demos during the 80s. One of the songs I had sung the demo for was "No One In The World". This song was written by Marty Sharon and Kenny Hirsch. Kenny and I had worked on quite a few projects together but I was just meeting Marty Sharon and developed a great relationship with her. Well after I sang the song demo to "No One In The World", this song was pitched to Anita Baker and was put into the 'Rapture' Album.

Marty called me to do the background arrangements and put a group together for backgrounds. Of course working with SWITCH we as a band all contributed to the backgrounds, but this was my first time outside of the group that I did background arrangements on my own which led to me doing quite a few background arrangements for many artist.

I called Lynn Davis and Darrell Phinnessee to sing with me and of course the 'Rapture' album is still considered one of Anita's Best work. Because I was a fan of Chapter 8, when I met her at the studio I let her know that I had been a fan for quite some time and I was honored to be working on this project.

Marty, Kenny and Anita were well pleased with the way the arrangements turned out. The only thing that I was disappointed with was when the album came out I received the credit for singing the backgrounds along with Lynn and Darrell but I didn't receive the credit for doing the background arrangements. As I mentioned, I ended up doing quite a few background vocal arrangements after this project, but at the time I was disappointed, because credits mean everything in this business.

The 'Rapture' album went on to sell nearly eight million copies worldwide and earned Anita 2 Grammy Awards back in 1987. "No One In The World" became a major R&B and adult contemporary hit during 1986 and 1987. This album definitely put Anita in the mainstream and again, I was happy to have had a part.

Enjoy "No One In The World" from YouTube....

Until Next Time - Phillip