With an all-time total of 16 Grammy Awards between them, multi-platinum superstars Toni Braxton and Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds have finally teamed up for their first album of duets together, LOVE, MARRIAGE & DIVORCE, arriving in stores December 3rd on Motown Records. The album celebrates the strong bond that has been in place between the two artists ever since Babyface and Toni's duet on her smash 1992 debut, "Give U My Heart," which was co-written and co-produced by Babyface (from the Boomerang movie soundtrack).
The first single from Toni and Babyface, "Hurt You," blasts out to radio and is available at iTunes now! (
http://smarturl.it/ihurtyou) "Hurt You" was co-written by the duo (with Daryl Simmons and Antonio Dixon), and produced by Babyface, who also handled all guitar, drums, and keyboard programming on the track. "Hurt You" was recorded and mixed by Paul Boutin at Brandon's Way Recording in Los Angeles.
For Babyface, LOVE, MARRIAGE & DIVORCE will be his first new studio album in six years, since Playlist (released 2007), Top 10 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart on the strength of his Top 10 AC version of James Taylor's "Fire & Rain." For Toni, LOVE, MARRIAGE & DIVORCE will be her first new studio album in three years, since Pulse (2010), the #1 R&B album containing the hit single "Yesterday" featuring Trey Songz.
Both Toni Braxton and Babyface are active touring artists. Toni is currently in the middle of an extensive East Coast tour, with upcoming shows remaining in Baltimore (8/21), Lincoln, RI (8/23), Atlantic City (8/24), Westbury, NY (8/25), St. Petersburg, FL (8/28), Miami (8/29), and Atlanta (8/31). Babyface has upcoming shows slated for Dallas (on 8/31) and Henderson, NV (10/11).
10-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds, singer, songwriter, producer, philanthropist, and record label owner, has been revolutionizing the contemporary pop/Urban music landscape ever since scoring consecutive multi-platinum landmark albums with Tender Lover (1989, with R&B smashes "It's No Crime," "Tender Love," "Whip Appeal," "My Kinda Girl"); For the Cool In You (1993, with hit singles "For the Cool In You," "Never Keeping Secrets," "And Our Feelings," "When Can I See You"); and The Day (1996, with "This Is For the Lover In You" and "Every Time I Close My Eyes"). As co-founder with L.A. Reid of Atlanta's LaFace Records in 1989, Edmonds nurtured the careers of megastars TLC, OutKast, Goodie Mob, Usher, and (starting in 1993) Toni Braxton. Into the '90s and '00s, Edmonds lent his talents to an abundance of hits with artists ranging from Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson and Boyz II Men, to Mariah Carey, Madonna, Eric Clapton, Mary J. Blige, John Mellencamp, Aretha Franklin, Fall Out Boy, P!nk, Beyonce, Anthony Hamilton, and many others. Under Edmonds' belt are more than 125 Top 10 R&B and pop hits, 42 R&B #1 hits, and 51 Top 10 Pop hits (including 16 #1's), which have generated cumulative single and album sales of more than 500 million units worldwide. Most recent production work with other artists includes Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Keri Hilson, Ledisi and Ariana Grande. At the same time, Babyface is an active touring artist, performing concerts across the U.S. and around the world on a regular basis.
Edmonds is the recipient of numerous awards, including Soul Train Music Awards, BMI Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and American Music Awards. He received the third BET Walk of Fame Award (following previous honorees Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston), and was named BET's Entertainer Of The Year at the First Annual BET Awards Ceremony. His charitable work has garnered him the Essence Award For Excellence, The City of Hope Award, and Variety magazine's "Top of the Town" Honoree Award. He has donated over $100,000 to the VH-1 Save the Music program, and contributes to a host of worthwhile organizations, including the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). In 2008, Edmonds and longtime partner L.A. Reid co-wrote and co-produced Stand Up To Cancer's "Just Stand Up" with heavyweights Mariah Carey, Rihanna, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus, and Sheryl Crow. The song served as the backbone of a multi-network breast cancer awareness special broadcast. Edmonds and Reid were subsequently honored by the Noble Awards for their contribution to Stand Up To Cancer.
The distinctive, sultry vocals of six-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Toni Braxton, singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist, have been celebrated internationally ever since she was first introduced to the world by Babyface and L.A. Reid in 1992. Her self-titled debut album released the next year was a 10 million-selling phenomenon that generated Toni's first Grammys in 1994, for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal ("Another Sad Love Song"). The album's longevity led Toni to win her second Best Female R&B Vocal Grammy the following year (for "Breathe Again"). Her second album,
Secrets finally arrived in '96, and history repeated itself with 15 million worldwide sales. At the Grammy Awards in 1997, Toni became only the second woman in history (beside Dionne Warwick) to win Best Female Pop Vocal ("Un-break My Heart") and Best Female R&B Vocal ("You're Makin' Me High") in the same year. She returned to the Grammy podium in 2001, to claim another Best Female R&B Vocal award ("He Wasn't Man Enough," from the double-platinum album The Heat).
Into the millennium, Toni blossomed into an acting career with Broadway musical roles in Beauty and the Beast and Aida, and a dramatic turn in the Lifetime movie Twist of Faith. She and her sisters currently enjoy huge success in Braxton Family Values, one of WE tv's flagship reality series, which returns for a fourth season in November 2013. Raising her two sons Denim and Diezel, Toni balances her career demands with the high priorities of family, heath, public service, and charity work, particularly with the two diseases that have impacted her family directly: She is living with Lupus and her youngest child is living with Autism. Early detection and intervention has helped both Braxtons to be role models on how to live normal lives with these conditions. Toni is also a proud spokesperson for Autism Speaks.
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