Toni Braxton
Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967[4]) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won seven Grammy Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards, and numerous other accolades. In 2011, Braxton was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In 2017 she was honored with the Legend Award at the Soul Train Music Awards.[5]
For the album, see Toni Braxton (album).
Toni Braxton
- Singer
- songwriter
- actress
- television personality
1989–present
Birdman (2016–2022)
2
- Traci Braxton (sister)
- Towanda Braxton (sister)
- Trina Braxton (sister)
- Tamar Braxton (sister)
Vocals
In the late 1980s, Braxton began performing with her sisters in a music group known as The Braxtons; the group was signed to Arista Records. After attracting the attention of producers Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and being signed to LaFace Records, Braxton released her self-titled debut studio album in 1993. The album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 10 million copies worldwide. In addition, the singles "Another Sad Love Song" and "Breathe Again" became international successes. The album brought Braxton three Grammy Awards, including the Grammy for Best New Artist.
Braxton experienced continued success with the albums Secrets (1996), which included the U.S. #1 hit singles "You're Makin' Me High/Let It Flow" and "Un-Break My Heart"; and The Heat (2000), which opened at #2 on the Billboard 200 and included the U.S. #2 hit single "He Wasn't Man Enough". Braxton's subsequent studio albums, More Than a Woman (2002), Libra (2005) and Pulse (2010), were released amid contractual disputes and health issues. In 2014, Braxton and longtime collaborator Babyface released a duet album entitled Love, Marriage & Divorce that earned the duo a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album in 2015. Further label changes saw the release of Sex & Cigarettes (2018) under Def Jam/Universal and Spell My Name (2020) under Island.
Braxton is also a television executive producer and personality. She competed in the seventh season of the reality competition series Dancing with the Stars. She has executive produced and starred in Braxton Family Values, a reality television series that aired on We TV from 2011 to 2020. Braxton was also an executive producer of Tamar & Vince, a spinoff reality TV series starring her younger sister, Tamar.
Early life
Toni Michele Braxton was born in Severn, Maryland,[6] on October 7, 1967.[4] Her father, Michael Conrad Braxton Sr., was a Methodist[7][8] clergyman and power company worker, and her mother, Evelyn Jackson, a native of South Carolina, was a former opera singer and cosmetologist, as well as a pastor.[9][10] Braxton's maternal grandfather was also a pastor.[11]
Braxton is the eldest of six siblings.[12] She has a younger brother Michael Jr. (born 1968) and four younger sisters Traci Renee (1971 - 2022), Towanda Chloe (born 1973), Trina Evette (born 1974), and Tamar Estine (born 1977). They were raised in a strict religious household,[13] and Braxton's first performing experience was singing in her church choir.[13]
Braxton attended Bowie State University to obtain a teaching degree,[14] but decided to sing professionally after she was discovered by William E. Pettaway Jr., who reportedly heard her singing to herself while pumping gas.[15]
On her appearance May 24, 2014, broadcast of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, she stated that she was not singing to herself at the gas station. Pettaway, working as an attendant at the Annapolis service station where she was refueling, recognized her from local performances and introduced himself, saying he wanted to produce her. Although skeptical, Braxton decided to, in her words, "take a chance" and accepted.[16]
Artistry
Braxton has been recognized for her distinctive contralto voice.[125][126] Her voice has been called "husky, sultry, elegant and sexy."[127] Due to the huskiness of her voice, Braxton often used male singers such as Michael McDonald, Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder as vocal style models.[2] Chaka Khan and Anita Baker were two of the few female singers that she could stylize. Steve Huey of AllMusic cites a key to Braxton's success is the versatility of her voice, which he states as being "soulful enough for R&B audiences, but smooth enough for adult contemporary; sophisticated enough for adults, but sultry enough for younger listeners; strong enough in the face of heartbreak to appeal to women, but ravishing enough to nab the fellas."[2] In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Braxton at No. 48 on their list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[128]
Braxton began her career singing traditional R&B and soft rock ballads and love songs on her debut and second albums. However, hip-hop soul and dance music elements begun to get spun into her sound on The Heat,[129] More Than a Woman,[130] and Pulse. She also showcased her classical training while performing in Broadway plays Beauty and the Beast and Aida as well as her duet with Il Divo, "The Time of Our Lives".
Legacy
Toni Braxton became an R&B superstar after the release of her first album. LA Reid stated during an interview with VH1: "We called her the first lady of LaFace. She was our Diva. Clive had Whitney, Tommy had Mariah and we had Toni." BBC called the album "spiritedly, mature soul at its best – and just urban enough to make it the bedroom album for the hip hop generation."[131] Over the span of her career Braxton has sold over 70 million records, including 40 million albums,[132] worldwide. Her hit "Un-Break My Heart", the Diane Warren-penned ballad, spent 11-weeks at number 1. Bob McCann, author of Encyclopedia of African American Actresses in Film and Television (2010), considered it "simply one of the most haunting R&B records ever made." Reviewer Mark Edward Nero named it one of the best R&B break-up songs and considered it Braxton's "finest moment". He further commented, "damn, this song is so sad it can make people cry for hours at a time." Braxton is a recipient of seven Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and nine Billboard Music Awards. She has been cited as an influence by various artists, such as Beyoncé, sister Tamar Braxton, Billie Godfrey, Kelly Clarkson, Leela James, Keyshia Cole, Teyana Taylor, Kehlani, Sevyn Streeter,[133] Ari Lennox[134] and Anja Nissen.[135]
Braxton's career, she made several impacts on fashion, mostly for her high splits in her dresses. In 2011, Braxton topped the list for the Grammy Award's best dressed of the decade.[136] "I've always gone a little risque with all my other award show outfits."[137] In 2012, Braxton made the list for VH1's 50 Greatest Women in Music. Braxton's 2000 performance at Super Bowl XXXIV is ranked as one of the most memorable Super Bowl performances.[138] Braxton is featured alongside other R&B and pop divas as a primary character on the popular web parody Got 2B Real: The Diva Variety Show.[139] With her Las Vegas residency Toni Braxton: Revealed, she became the first African American performer in Las Vegas to have her act enter the top ten Vegas shows charting. Braxton also made headlines for her Giantto Million Dollar Microphone that she performed every show with. Braxton said: "I think it's a great element to the show. You have to have a little sprinkle of Liberace and this is my little sprinkle of that." Braxton's prop was made up of white gold and encrusted with 650 karats of diamonds.[140] The microphone reportedly cost $1 million.
Braxton has also been seen as a gay icon, with some of her songs becoming gay anthems, such as "Un-Break My Heart", "He Wasn't Man Enough" and "Make My Heart". The singer stated that after the release of "Un-Break My Heart", she "recognized all the support. And it was really wonderful." When asked about her gay fans, Braxton said "I love my boys because my boys help me be a better girl. My choreographer and my video director are gay, and they've been my best friends since I started in the industry. They're my favorite part of the whole industry".[141]
Personal life
Relationships
Braxton met musician Keri Lewis when his group, Mint Condition, opened for her on tour; they married on April 21, 2001. In December 2001, she gave birth to their first child, a son named Denim Cole Braxton-Lewis. In 2002, while gearing up for the release of her fourth studio album, Braxton discovered she was pregnant with her second child; the complicated pregnancy confined her to bed rest. The couple's second son, Diezel Ky Braxton-Lewis, was born in March 2003. As Diezel has been diagnosed with autism, Braxton has become involved with Autism Speaks, serving as their International Spokesperson. In November 2009, Braxton announced that she and her husband had separated. The couple later divorced in July 2013.[142]
In her early 30s, Braxton had an abortion after discovering she was pregnant by then-boyfriend Keri Lewis. In her memoir Unbreak my Heart, Braxton discusses her abortion and guilt, saying that her son Diezel's autism was "God's payback".[143]
In an October 2006 concert at the Flamingo Las Vegas, Braxton broke down in tears while announcing to the audience that just before the concert began she had been told that her son, Diezel, had been diagnosed with autism.[144] Braxton has been outspoken regarding her doctor's failure to diagnose Diezel's condition earlier, contending that if he had been diagnosed earlier he could have received treatment earlier.[145] As well as becoming a spokeswoman for Autism Speaks,[146] she is also a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.
On July 8, 2015, Braxton's attorney, Antavius Weems, announced that Braxton had settled her contentious child support case with her former husband, Keri Lewis.[147] On June 2, 2016, the city and county officials of Atlanta, Georgia, named June 2 as Toni Braxton Day.[148]
Braxton began dating rapper Birdman in May 2016, and the couple announced their engagement in February 2018.[149] In January 2019, the couple called off the engagement.[150] However, in April 2019, both Braxton and Birdman confirmed that they were still together.[151] But since at least 2022, Braxton has made several television appearances, where she has declared herself single and on the dating scene, which indicates that her relationship with Birdman has ceased.[152]
Health problems
In August 2007, rumors surfaced that Braxton had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She stated to Access Hollywood that the breast cancer rumors were false and that her health was very good. However, in 2008, she had a benign lump removed from her breast. On April 8, 2008, near the end of her two-year run at the Flamingo Hotel, Braxton was briefly hospitalized and the remaining dates on the show, which was scheduled to end on August 23, 2008, were cancelled.[153] Later, while appearing on Season 7 of Dancing with the Stars, she stated, that she has been diagnosed with microvascular angina (small vessel disease).[154]
On November 18, 2010, Braxton revealed to CBS News that she had been diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a potentially life-threatening autoimmune disease.[155]
Braxton's uncle died of complications from lupus.[155] While taping her reality series Braxton Family Values, she went into hospital for surgery. Braxton was hospitalized in Los Angeles in December 2012 because of "minor health issues" related to lupus.[156]
Studio albums
Collaborative albums
Headlining
Residencies
