Adrian Baker

A would-be British Brian Wilson, Adrian Baker is a singer-songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and label boss with a strong leaning towards harmony and vocal material. He started out in the Essex harmony group Pebbles in the late 60s and they released two singles on Parlophone in 1971. They then became Playground and finally Gidea Park (named after his home town), occasionally appearing on television variety shows in the early 70s. Leaving to go solo, Baker ended up on the Magnet label and in 1975 had his one and only solo hit - a reworking of the old Four Seasons number, ‘Sherry’. His debut, Into A Dream, was released in the same year. In 1980 he formed his own Polo label, which was merely an outlet for all his own projects. These included the session group Dazz, with the quirky Baker-penned ‘Everything’s Electric’ and several singles for the disco group Liquid Gold, all written by Baker alone or with Eddie Seago. Inspired by the medley craze of 1981, Baker resurrected the group name Gidea Park and put out a segue of Beach Boys songs, followed by one based on the Four Seasons. His moment of glory came in the early 80s when he was asked to join the Beach Boys’ touring band for a short period. By the mid-80s he was back recording either as Adrian Baker or Gidea Park, a veritable one-man harmony band.