JANICE'S BLUES ALLEY
PRESENTS
BABYFACE
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As a singer, producer, songwriter, and label executive, Babyface has been an inescapable presence in virtually every major facet of pop music since his commercial emergence in the late '80s. His solo recordings, highlighted by the all-platinum streak of Tender Lover (1989), For the Cool in You (1993), and The Day (1996), helped rejuvenate the R&B tradition of the smooth, sensitive crooner and made his voice a staple of urban contemporary radio. Their considerable success has been augmented by an even richer body of outside songwriting and production work. Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step," Boyz II Men's "End of the Road," Whitney Houston's "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)," Eric Clapton's "Change the World," and Toni Braxton's "You're Makin' Me High" represent a small fraction of the Top Ten pop hits he has written and/or produced. A Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee and an 11-time Grammy winner -- with four designations as Producer of the Year -- Babyface was honored in 2021 with a Grammy Trustees Award, recognized for the totality of his career, and his crucial role, as co-founder of LaFace Records, in the development of artists such as TLC, OutKast, and Usher. He continued in 2022 with Girls' Night Out, his ninth proper solo album. 4 Kenneth Edmonds was born April 10, 1959, in Indianapolis and began playing in local R&B bands as a teenager. He served a stint in Bootsy Collins' backing unit (where he earned his nickname) and subsequently joined the funk outfit Manchild, who signed a record deal in 1977 and released three albums. After their breakup, Babyface and partner Antonio "L.A." Reid formed an urban funk group called the Deele in the early '80s, who scored a few sizable hits on the R&B charts. Babyface and Reid began producing and writing for other artists on the side, landing hits in the Whispers' "Rock Steady" and Pebbles' "Girlfriend"; following the Deele's third album in 1988, the duo left to continue their outside activities full-time, co-founding the LaFace label in 1989. Further hits followed in Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step," Sheena Easton's "The Lover in Me," and Karyn White's "The Way You Love Me" and "Superwoman," all of which performed well on both the pop and R&B charts. Babyface had actually recorded a little-noticed solo album in 1986, titled Lovers, but with his newfound success having marked him as one to watch, his solo career now began in earnest. Released in 1989, Tender Lover caught fire, spinning off four singles over the next year, including the R&B chart smashes "It's No Crime" (number one) and "Whip Appeal" (number two; both also reached the pop Top Ten); the album also went double platinum. Now firmly established as a powerhouse, Babyface went on to co-write hits for Johnny Gill ("My, My, My," nominated for the Best R&B Song Grammy), Whitney Houston ("I'm Your Baby Tonight"), and Madonna ("Take a Bow"); his biggest success, however, came with Boyz II Men, whose recording of "End of the Road" became one of the longest-running number ones in pop history (the Babyface-penned follow-up "I'll Make Love to You" was also very successful in its own right). He was co-nominated for an Album of the Year Grammy for his production on the Bodyguard soundtrack and went on to work with artists like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, En Vogue, and Mary J. Blige. As if that weren't enough, LaFace had become a highly successful and lucrative imprint, breaking artists like Toni Braxton, TLC, OutKast, and Usher (often with input from Reid and Babyface). It's no wonder Babyface wound up taking a break from his own career as a singer during the early '90s, releasing only a remix album, A Closer Look, in 1991. The proper follow-up to Tender Lover didn't appear until 1993; even so, For the Cool in You was an even bigger hit than its predecessor, going triple platinum and producing Babyface's first Top Five pop hit, the change-of-pace acoustic guitar ballad "When Can I See You Again" (which won him his first Grammy as a performer for Best Male R&B Vocal). In 1995, he scored another major success with the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, not only producing it but scoring the film itself and writing nearly all of its songs, including the Whitney Houston smash "Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)." The same year, he won the first of three consecutive Grammys as Producer of the Year. Successes just kept coming in 1996; the guest-laden album The Day spawned another Top Ten pop/R&B hit in "Every Time I Close My Eyes," and he solidified his crossover credentials once and for all by winning a Grammy for Record of the Year as producer of Eric Clapton's "Change the World." Encouraged by the success of Waiting to Exhale, Babyface and his wife, Tracey Edmonds, formed their own film production company, which debuted in 1997 with the acclaimed urban family comedy/drama Soul Food. Babyface, naturally, masterminded the soundtrack. The next year, he contributed lyrics to the animated musical The Prince of Egypt, which went uncredited on the soundtrack album. With the movies taking up more of his time, his next musical releases were quick one-offs: an MTV Unplugged album in 1997 and the seasonal Christmas with Babyface the next year. His production and songwriting activities continued, though he remained silent as a performer for a few years. In 2000, Epic released the best-of compilation A Collection of His Greatest Hits, marking the end of his tenure with the label; he had elected to move to Arista, where L.A. Reid had been a high-ranking executive. In 2001, Babyface released Face2Face, featuring "There She Goes," a Top Ten R&B/hip-hop collaboration with the Neptunes, and also produced the punk-pop soundtrack for the film Josie & the Pussycats. The back-to-basics Grown & Sexy came in July 2005, also the year he and Tracey Edmonds announced their divorce. Playlist, a creative departure with covers of '70s singer/songwriter hits and deep cuts by artists such as James Taylor, Jim Croce, and Bread, was issued on Mercury in September 2007. During the next several years, Babyface worked with the likes of Lil Wayne, Vanessa Williams, Whitney Houston, Kristinia DeBarge, and Boyz II Men, as well as Anthony Hamilton, whose "Pray for Me" was nominated for a 2013 Grammy in the category of Best R&B Song. He co-wrote and co-produced several songs on Ariana Grande's Yours Truly, a number one album in the U.S. Love, Marriage & Divorce, an album of duets with Braxton, was released on Motown in February 2014. It debuted at number four and won a Grammy for Best R&B Album. Near the end of the following year, Babyface released Return of the Tender Lover. Titled in reference to his second solo album, it was inspired by the "feel good" performing approach of touring partners Charlie Wilson and Maze. Relatively absent from the spotlight for a while, Babyface over the next several years worked mostly behind the scenes, producing material for Johnny Mathis and After 7, and was also featured on songs by younger artists such as Arin Ray and Lucky Daye. During this period, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2020, he and fellow contemporary R&B titans Jam & Lewis hit number four on the Adult R&B chart with "He Don't Know Nothin' 'Bout It," the biggest single off Jam & Lewis: Volume One. Handed a Grammy Trustees Award in 2021, he continued the next year with a featured appearance beside Johnny Gill and K-Ci Hailey on Charlie Wilson's "No Stoppin' Us" (updating McFadden & Whitehead's "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now"). He then released "Keeps On Fallin'," a sparkling slow jam featuring Ella Mai, as the lead single off Girls' Night Out, his first album for Capitol. -- Steve Huey of All Music Guide. |
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1986 Lovers | |||
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01. You Make Me Feel Brand New 02. Lovers 03. Chivalry 04. I Love You Babe |
05. Mary Mack 06. Faithful 07. If We Try 08. Take Your Time | ||
1986 Tender Lover | |||
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01. It's No Crime 02. Tender Lover 03. Let's Be Romantic 04. Can't Stop My Heart 05. My Kinda Girl 06. Where Will You Go (Prelude) |
07. Whip Appeal 08. Soon As I Get Home 09. Given A Chance 10. Sunshine 11. Where Will You Go | ||
1991 A Closer Look | |||
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01. Mary Mack (3 Boyz From Newark Remix) 02. Two Occasions (Live) 03. I Love You Babe (The Ghostbrothers & Rodney Ascue Remix) 04. Chivalry (The Characters Remix) 05. Lovers (Roger S Remix) |
06. It's No Crime (Blaze Remix) 07. Love Saw It (Eric Schilling & Nick Martinelli Remix) 08. Love Make Things Happen (Eric Schilling & Nick Martinelli Remix) 09. My Kinda Girl (James Alfonso & Yvonne Turner Remix) 10. Whip Appeal (Blaze Remix) | ||
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1993 For The Cool In You | |||
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01. For The Cool In You 02. Lady, Lady 03. Never Keeping Secrets 04. Rock Bottom 05. And Our Feelings 06. Saturday |
07. When Can I See You 08. Illusions 09. A Bit Old-Fashioned 10. You Are So Beautiful 11. I'll Always Love You 12. Well Alright | ||
1996 The Day | |||
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01. Every Time I Close My Eyes 02. Talk To Me 03. I Said I Love You 04. When Your Body Gets Weak 05. Simple Days |
06. All Day Thinkin' 07. Seven Seas 08. The Day (That You Gave Me A Son) 09. How Come, How Long 10. This Is For The Lover In You | ||
1997 MTV Unplugged NYC 1997 | |||
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01. Change The World 02. Talk To Me 03. Whip Appeal 04. Breathe Again 05. Exhale (Shoop Shoop) 06. I'll Make Love To You |
07. End Of The Road 08. I Care About You 09. The Day (That You Gave Me A Son) 10. Gone Too Soon 11. How Come, How Long | ||
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1998 Christmas With Babyface | |||
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01. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer 02. Winter Wonderland 03. The Christmas Song 04. White Christmas 05. The Little Drummer Boy |
06. I'll Be Home For Christmas 07. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear/The First Noel 08. Sleigh Ride 09. Silent Night 10. You Were There | ||
2001 Face2Face | |||
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01. Outside In/Inside Out 02. There She Goes 03. What If 04. Stressed Out 05. Baby's Mama 06. How Can U Be Down 07. Work It Out |
08. I Keep Callin' 09. With Him 10. Wish U Was My Girl 11. U Should Know 12. Don't Take It So Personal 13. Still In Love With U 14. Lover And Friend | ||
2004 A Love Story | |||
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01. God Must Love You 02. Red Dress 03. The Getting 2 Know U 04. Makin' Love 05. Love Song 06. The Sentimental Reasons |
07. The Loneliness 08. Wish That I Could Tell You 09. Together Forever 10. Still My Boo 11. I Promise | ||
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2005 Grown & Sexy | |||
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01. Tonight It's Goin' Down 02. Grown & Sexy 03. Mad, Sexy, Cool 04. Can't Stop Now 05. Goin' Outta Business 06. Drama, Love & 'Lationships 07. Sorry For The Stupid Things |
08. Good To Be In Love 09. The Loneliness 10. She 11. God Must Love U 12. The Gettin' To Know U 13. She's International | ||
2014 Love Marriage & Divorce with Toni Braxton | |||
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01. Toni Braxton & Babyface -- Roller Coaster 02. Toni Braxton & Babyface -- Sweat 03. Toni Braxton & Babyface -- Hurt You 04. Toni Braxton & Babyface -- Where Did We Go Wrong? 05. Babyface -- I Hope That You're Okay 06. Toni Braxton -- I Wish |
07. Toni Braxton & Babyface -- Take It Back 08. Toni Braxton & Babyface -- Reunited 09. Toni Braxton -- I'd Rather Be Broke 10. Toni Braxton & Babyface -- Heart Attack 11. Toni Braxton & Babyface -- The D Word | ||
2015 Return Of The Tender Lover | |||
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01. We've Got Love 02. Fight For Love 03. Exceptional 04. Walking On Air 05. I Want You |
06. Love And Devotion 07. Standing Ovation 08. Something Bout You 09. Our Love | ||
