ANITA BAKER RELEASES NEW SINGLE "LATELY", NEW ALBUM DUE OCTOBER 2012

Legendary soul, jazz & R&B songstress, and producer Anita Baker is set to make fans of her romantic style excited with her seventh studio album, Only Forever, which will be released on Blue Note Records/EMI. The ten track offering lives up to its title, featuring the same classic music that Baker is known for, but with a modern twist. This past Monday, August 6, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. ET, Baker became the first recording artist ever to have an unprecedented premiere on Urban Contemporary Radio for all Clear Channel radio stations as they played her new single Lately every hour on the hour. The single was officially released on August 7th. The R&B icon has added her musical touch to Tyrese Gibson’s 1999 hit and has made it her lead single. Lately is produced by The Underdogs and executive produced by Anita Baker and Don Was. The new album, Only Forever, her first in seven years, is due out on Tuesday, October 21, 2012.

Of this new release, Baker said: “I just had this concept of walking into a digital universe with an analog heart [on Only Forever]. Se we’re kind of marrying the two. I started cutting analog down in Nashville, and once I knew what we were gonna do, we bounced it over to the digital format so that the 21st century producers like Harvey Mason, Jr. could manipulate it. I was just very focused on getting some analog energy in there somewhere. So it’s a lovely bridge that I’m trying to build tech-wise as well as musically.”

Baker is an eight-time Grammy winner with four platinum and two gold albums to her name. She shot to fame with her classic album Rapture, and experienced critical and commercial success with subsequent albums – Giving You The Best I Got, Compositions, Rhythm Of Love, and My Everything. She has also released a successful greatest hits collection (The Best Of Anita Baker), a holiday album (Christmas Fantasy), and a live album (A Night Of Rapture: Live).