Born March 14, 1922 at Mexia, Texas, died January 15, 1996 of heart and kidney problems. He learned to play the piano at at five years old and studied at the Detroit Conservatory and at Pepperdine College in Los Angeles, California where his uncle was Pepperdine's first president. He began his career as a concert pianist but later joined Mel Torme's "Meltones" in 1945. Baxter conducted a numer of radio shows including Bob Hope show.
His recording of the Poor People of Paris in March 1956 was a number one hit and it sold more single copies than any other recording during that decade. The song was only so titled by mistake. originally titled the Ballad of Poor John when it was popularized in France. When a Capitol records representative cabled the title to the united states, the cable used the word "gens" instead of "jean". "gens" translates as "people". Another major hit was April in Portugal that was based on a song by Paul Ferrao.
It was originally entitled "Coimbra" (after a city in Portugal by that name and later introduced in the United States as the whispering serenade. But Jimmy Kennedy wrote a new set of lyrics in 1952 for it and it became a huge hit for Baxter. He also wrote the scores for over 120 motion pictures.