"Bumble Bee" was written by Leroy Fullylove and Lavern Baker and released in October 1960 on Atlantic Records.Arranged & conducted by Jesse Stone.LaVern Baker was born Delores Evans November 11, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois.She was raised in Calmut City, Illinois under her mothers new surname McMurley.On December 23, 1948 at age nineteen she married Eugene Williams.Lavern Baker began singing in Chicago clubs in 1946.Often billed as Little Miss Sharecropper, she was first recorded under that name in 1949, leading to a recording deal with that title for National Records in 1951, shortly before it was folded.Then she changed her name briefly to Bea Baker when recording for Okeah Records in 1951, switched to Delores Baker, and then was billed as LaVern Baker when she sang with Todd Rhodes and his band 1952.In 1953 she signed with Atlantic Records.After that she had three major hits with Tweedle Dee (1955) Jim Dandy (1956) and I Cried A Tear (1958).And a string of other hits.In addition to singing she worked with Ed Sullivan and Alan Freed on TV and films.LaVern Baker toured as a part of Lee Gordon's Big Show 1957 in Australia.Later she toured also in West Indies.After divorcing Eugene Williams in the fall of 1958, LaVern Baker married comedian Slappy White in 1959.After the couple divorced in 1969 she signed for a USO tour.She become seriously ill with bronchial pneumonia after a trip to Vietnam.While recoverng in a U.S. naval base at Subic Bay in the Phillippines, a friend recommended that she stay as the entertainment director at the Marine Corps Staff NCO club there.LaVern Baker remained there for 22 years, returning to the United States after the base was closed in 1991.In 1990 LaVern Baker was among the first of eight recipients of the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She become 1991 the second female artist after Aretha Franklin to be inducted into Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.LaVern Baker continued to perform live and recording even after her both legs were amputated, because of complications due to diabetes in 1994.LaVern Baker died March 10, 1997 in Queens, New York.This Atlantic single is backed with "My Time Will Come".
