Braxton, Toni

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Toni Braxton

Singer

Although Toni Braxton has received considerable attention for her physical appearance, she has made a name for herself as a talented singer. She also credits her strict upbringing for maintaining her levelheadedness. “I just want people to love and appreciate my music because I sing it from my soul,” she said in a New York Times article. “It’s emotional and I feel it.” Braxton was designated by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1994. Glamour reported the style and fit of her pants in a blurb titled “Why I Love My Jeans.” Sophisticate’s Black Hair named her one of the 10 Best Styled Women of 1994, and Black Beat wondered if she became “prettier every time we see her or what?” Toni Braxton takes all the fuss with a grain of salt. Shetold US magazine, “I’m not a diva. I’m a tadpole trying to be a frog.”

When Braxton was a child, her father, Michael worked as a gas company employee, but felt that his true calling was as an Apostolic minister. At home, the children were forbidden to listen to secular music, and frivolity was not encouraged. The Braxton household was so strict that the children were not allowed to watch movies or even cartoons. Toni wore only plain dresses, and certainly not pants, until the family converted to Methodism when she was 12. There was plenty of music in the house, however, because her mother Evelyn loved opera-and opera counted as religious music. Mr. Braxton recruited his daughters as a traveling choir for his services around the Severn, Maryland area. Braxton notes that much later her father became proud of her musical successes, and claimed that along with the times, her parents have changed as well.

“We used to sing everything in operatic style when I was younger,” Braxton recalled for Ebony, “And I hated opera because I wanted to sing ‘Don’t rock the boat baby/Don’t tip the boat over!” During a commercial on television, she caught a glimpse of Dionne Warwick singing “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?,” and those six seconds made a profound impact on her. She sang the tune over and over to herself. She thought, according to Upscale, “Omigosh, it’s so pretty. She’s so pretty. I love that song. I want to sing just like her.” Itwas the first secular music she remembers singing. Another influence was the character Penny on Good Times, the 1970s sitcom. The character Penny was played by a young singer around Braxton’s age, Janet Jackson, and she identified with her thoroughly. Both Toni and the fictional Penny had a crush on J.J. (comedian Jimmie Walker’s character). The pop music of the era, such as the Jackson Family, was the sound of her daydreams. Sometimes Braxton stole a peek at Soul Train when her parents weren not around.

She sang in the glee club at school and in talent shows. With her four younger sisters, who sang with her at

For the Record…

Born 1967 in Severn, MD; daughter of Michael (a Pentecostal minister) and Evelyn (a cosmetologist and amateur opera singer); eldest of six children; attended Bowie State College.

Sang with her four sisters in a group called the Braxtons as the choir for her father’s church; the Braxtons recorded a single “The Good Life” for Arista Records 1990; offered a solo contract by Atlanta-based LaFace Records 1991; worked on Boomerang, the Eddie Murphy movie soundtrack 1992; “Give U My Heart” and “Love Should Have Brought You Home” from Boomerang became hit singles; made video “Give U My Heart; debut album Toni Braxton sold over nine million copies; sang on soundtrack album Waiting to Exhale 1995.

Selected awards: Three Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards and two Soul Train Awards, 1993.

Addresses: Record company —LaFace Records, 1 Capitol City PL, 3350 Peachtree Rd., Ste. 1500, Atlanta, GA 30326.

church, she formed a group called the Braxtons. Through songwriter Bill Pettaway, who worked at an Annapolis gas station, she was introduced to Ernesto Phillips of the R&B group Starpoint. Phillips in turn took the Braxtons to Arista Records where they were able to cut a single, “The Good Life” in 1990. Braxton joked that the song sold all of three copies, one to her grandmother, one to her parents and one to herself. However, two people who did hear the record were L.A. Reid and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, who at the time were putting together a company, LaFace Records of Atlanta.

Reid and Edmonds had just signed another female singing group, TLC, and consequently, were not interested in the Braxtons, but they asked Toni if she would consider signing as a solo artist. Although this meant leaving her family, she eventually made the decision and moved to Atlanta. She signed with LaFace in 1991. Her big break came when newly pregnant Anita Baker could not fulfill her commitment to sing on Boomerang, the soundtrack for the 1992 Eddie Murphy movie. Two songs had been written for Baker, a bluesy torch song, “Love Shoulda Brought You Home Last Night” and a duet with Babyface, “Give U My Heart.” The songs were perfect for Braxton’s smoky alto voice, which combines stark honesty with a gut-wrenching melancholy. The songs rushed up the R&B charts, and made Braxton an overnight star. Her delighted mentors at LaFace dubbed her “The First Lady of LaFace.” Her looks and winning personality made her a natural on the talk show circuit as well. She appeared with Babyface on The Arsenio Hall Show, and later on The Tonight Show, David Letter-man, Good Morning America, Today, and Entertainment Tonight.

Her success with the singles made her self-titled debut album eagerly anticipated. Braxton wrote two of the songs herself: “Best Friends” about a painful relationship, and “How Many Ways,” a sweet love song. The album became a huge critical and financial success. Billboard named her one of the top pop artists of 1994, and two of the cuts went gold as singles: “Another Sad Love Song,” written by Babyface, and “Breathe Again.” The songs on the album were a mixture of sorrow and joy, filtered through her sophisticated adult persona. “I didn’t want to do the standard love songs,” she said to Essence magazine, “I wrote songs that pertained to me. I wanted to say things like, ‘Where were you last night? Why didn’t you call me?’” The album sold 9.5 million copies in the two years following its July 1993 release, ranking behind only Whitney Houston for a female singer’s debut. She won three Grammy Awards and three American Music Awards. Braxton attributed the album’s appeal to the fact that it connected with the complexities people commonly experience in relationships.

Her first national tour was as the opening act for Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, a tour that enabled her to hire her sisters as backup singers. She then toured Europe, and in between, she made television appearances on Roc and Living Single. Also, during a memorable Tonight Show spot, she somehow ended up sitting on Jay Leno’s lap. She was a host for Video Soul on cable’s BET. In 1995 she contributed to another soundtrack album Waiting To Exhale, which kept her in the public eye.