Carroll Baker born 4 March 1949

Carroll Anne Baker CM (born March 4, 1949) is a Canadian country music singer and songwriter. 

Baker was born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia and grew up in Port Medway a small picturesque fishing village on Nova Scotia's South West Shore. She was the youngest of six children born to Gordon and Iverna Baker.  She had five siblings; three brothers: Fordan, Truman and Willis, and two sisters: Barbara and Rosemary. Carroll was surrounded by music as a little girl but she objected when her musical family launched into their repertoire of country songs. She preferred rock 'n' roll. She even objected when her father, a fiddler with many accomplishments, said to her "one day, you'll love country music." She doubted it. 

Growing up in a small town in Nova Scotia, Baker was immediately drawn to singing and making music with her friends and get into some occasional trouble as she states "there was nothing to do, except get into trouble, and we did our share of that too." During her teen years, she was practicing regularly and singing for her church on Sundays. "I worked every church in town, the Anglican church in the morning, the Baptist church in the afternoon and the Pentecostal at night," she said. Port Medway's population was too small to have a school so she went to school at a nearby village named Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, approximately 40 kilometers north of where she lived. Her talent was not recognized right away, however. At school, she says she was considered one of the "hicks from the sticks" and the local glee club would not let her sing. 

In 1965, when Carroll was 16, she and her parents moved to Oakville.  They rented a home and everyone was happy to be together. She convinced her parents to let her get a job instead of finishing her education at high school. She worked at various jobs, a bookstore, a factory, a restaurant, and Canadian Tire. In 1966 she met a handsome Frenchman, John Beaulieu. The couple dated for a year, were engaged and then married on April 20, 1968 at St. Dominic's Catholic Church. 

                                   

When she heard country music in Toronto, she said it made her homesick for Nova Scotia and that is where her love for country music began. She made her stage debut in 1968 when her husband persuaded her to get on stage with a local band that was playing at the bar. The band members were initially impressed, even asking her to join them, but they soon became frustrated with her lack of progress and they eventually let her go. 

Songwriter George Petralia heard Baker sing and introduced her to producer Don Grashey. Her first single in 1970, "Mem-ries of Home", was written by Petralia and released on Grashey's Gaiety label. It was a minor hit, staying on the charts for 26 weeks. Based on the success of this first recording, Grashey contacted several record companies regarding a recording contract for her and finally made a deal with Columbia Records. She recorded two albums for Columbia with limited commercial success. Eventually she went back to Gaiety Records. She then was signed to RCA Records where she had several gold and platinum records. From RCA, she joined Tembo records where she was again awarded platinum record status for her record sales. 

In 1973, Baker became pregnant and announced her intention to withdraw from the music business. Grashey convinced her to continue, and the pair traveled to Nashville to record four songs. Her first top ten record came from that session, "Ten Little Fingers", a song about a little girl, written by Don Grashey; this song remains one of her most popular songs to this day. She also had a hit with a bluegrass remake of "It's My Party". All told, between 1970 and 1982 Baker released 31 consecutive charting singles. Twelve of these reached the top of the charts. 

Baker received the Juno Award for Country Female Vocalist of the Year five times, including awards in 1977, 1978 and 1979. In 1976, she won a Big Country Award for best album of the year, and in 1977 and 1978 she was named top female country singer at the same awards. She also received CCMA Awards as female vocalist of the year in 1982 and 1985 and for top-selling album (Hymns of Gold) in 1986, and for best-selling album (Christmas Carroll) in 1990. She was known as "Canada's Queen of Country Music." 

Baker entered into semi-retirement in the 1990s, maintaining a reduced performance schedule. She was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992 and was recognized with a lifetime achievement award from the Nova Scotia Country Music Association in 1997. For hosting many charity telethons, she was also honoured with the C.F. Martin Humanitarian Award. Baker became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2010. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, The Canadian Encyclopedia & Carroll Baker’s webpage)