FEATURE:
The Lockdown Playlist
The Best of Toni Braxton
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I am going to call this series…
the Lockdown Series, in spite of the fact we do not have one in the U.K. at the moment. It kind of stuck and works well enough. It is a chance to include an artist and their amazing music. As Toni Braxton’s birthday is tomorrow (7th), I wanted to compile the best of an artist who is one of my favourites. Before I get to the playlist, here is some Wikipedia biography about the peerless Toni Braxton:
“Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, actress, and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female R&B 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.
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 has aired on We TV since 2011. Braxton was also an executive producer of Tamar & Vince, a spinoff reality TV series starring her younger sister, Tamar”.
A very happy birthday to the amazing Toni Braxton. One of the greats of R&B, her music was really important to me when I was growing up. There is something about her delivery, personality and voice that stands above so many of her peers. There is no doubt Braxton is an icon. Over the span of her career, she has sold over seventy million records. Because of that, it is an honour to give a salute to…
THE amazing Toni Braxton.