Artist · chart history · #623 in indie & aaa artist polls
Chet Baker
Solo artist Yale United States American jazz trumpeter and vocalist
Chet Baker is an artist from Yale. Chet Baker has 3 chart appearances on 3 radio countdowns from 2 stations on RockLists, spanning 2001–2020. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “My Funny Valentine”, which appears on 2 lists with a best position of #1388. The station that charted Chet Baker most often is WXPN (Philadelphia, PA), with 2 appearances.
Chet Baker blew the trumpet like he was afraid of waking somebody, and sang the same way, and in the process he helped invent cool jazz and earned himself the nickname "the Prince of Cool". Born Chesney Henry Baker Jr. on December 23, 1929, he played flugelhorn too, and led trios, quartets, quintets and sextets under his own name.
The '50s were his golden years, with critics lining up behind him and his singing in the spotlight on Chet Baker Sings in 1954 and It Could Happen to You in 1958. Jazz historian Dave Gelly summed up the early promise by comparing him to a blend of James Dean, Sinatra and Bix. The records came out on Pacific Jazz, Columbia, EmArcy, Enja and Galaxy.
A well-known drug habit, and repeated spells in jail, followed him for years before a comeback in the late 1970s and the 1980s. He died on May 13, 1988, and Silence, with his reading of "My Funny Valentine", came out in 1989.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Chet Baker on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | My Funny Valentine | 2 | #1388 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Every countdown appearance
| Year | # | Song | Countdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1388 | My Funny Valentine | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time |
| 2006 | 626 | Artist ranking | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Artists (2006) |
| 2001 | 1587 | My Funny Valentine | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time |
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