Famed American gospel singer Helen Baylor will return to local shores on May 29 for the concert Praise for a Cause at the Faith Centre, Prince of Wales Street, San Fernando and on May 30 at the St John's Ambulance Hall, Port-of-Spain. Born in Tulsa Oklahoma and raised in Los Angeles, Baylor used to sing at nightclubs. She shared the stage with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and BB King while still in her teens, and worked in musicals. In the 80s when her career took a nose dive, Baylor struggled with drugs but later returned to her Christian roots.
Baylor said in one interview that it was the prayers of her late mother Minnie Hudson and her grandmother that she returned to the God she knew of as a child. She released her first gospel album on World Records in 1990 and enjoyed consecutive albums appearing on the Top Ten of the US Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart.
The most successful of them was 1994's The Live Experience, which reached number one on that chart. The ordained minister, Baylor is a four-time Grammy award nominee and Soul Train "Lady of Soul" award winner. The last time she performed on local shores was two years ago for a fund-raising venture by ITNAC. She had been to T&T to perform four times prior to that event. For ticket information, call 624-4162.