Babyface: A Man of Many Colours

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds helped rejuvenate the traditional sound of R&B in the nineties.

However it was his song writing and production skills that projected him to fame. Collaborating with partner Antonio “L.A” Reid, Babyface has worked with almost all the big names of nineties including Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, En Vogue and Mary J Blige. It is no wonder that he has earned the moniker of “the producer with the Midas touch”.

Born in Indianapolis in 1959, Edmonds began playing with R&B bands as a teenager. He played with several outfits, earning the nickname of “Babyface” while part of the band backing Bootsy Collins. He released his first album with the funk group Manchild, where he also met Reid. When the group broke up, Babyface and Reid formed Deele, an urban funk outfit. Deele was moderately successful, scoring a few hits in the early eighties.

Babyface and Reid also started writing and producing for other artistes. They scored hits with Girlfriend performed by Pebbles and Rock Steady by The Whispers.

In 1989 the duo set up their own label LaFace. Their productions included hits like Every Little Step by Bobby Brown, The Lover In Me by Sheena Easton and The Way You Love Me by Karyn White. BMI honoured the duo in 1990 as Songwriters of the Year.

Babyface had recorded a solo album called Lovers in 1986. But with the label doing well he gained greater recognition as a producer/songwriter. This in turn helped his second solo album 1989’s Tender Lover. This platinum selling album spawned the singles Its No Crime and Whip Appeal.

As a songwriter Babyface wrote hit after hit. His notable contributions include My My My for Johnny Gill, I’m Your Baby Tonight for Whitney Houston and Take A Bow for Madonna.

He hit gold in 1993 with Boyz II Men’s End of the Road which broke the record for the longest running number one in pop history. I’ll Make Love To You, another Boyz II Men track broke the record again in 1995.

In 1993 Babyface won his first Grammy for producer of the year with the soundtrack of Boomerang. Subsequently he and Reid restructured their roles within LaFace with Reid becoming the executive producer and Babyface looking after the creative side. The label went on to produce artistes like Toni Braxton, TLC, OutKast and Usher.

With so much happening on the production/writing front, Babyface released his third album For the Cool in You only in 1993. Going triple platinum, it gave Babyface his first Top Five pop hit with When Can I See You Again. The song won him a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal (Male) in 1995 along with another for writing I’ll Make Love to You.

A prolific and versatile artiste Babyface diversified by taking his song writing skills into the realms of film and stage as well. He scored and produced the soundtrack for several successful films like Boomerang, Waiting to Exhale and Josie and the Pussycats. In 1997 he and wife Tracey Edmonds set up a film production company Edmonds Entertainment which made its debut with Soul Food an urban comedy whose soundtrack sold double platinum. Babyface also wrote the lyrics for the animated Prince of Egypt.

Babyface’s own releases included an MTV unplugged album (1997), The Day, his fourth solo album and Christmas with Babyface (1998). After releasing A Collection of his Greatest Hits (2000), Babyface moved from Epic Records to Arista to rejoin Reid. His following releases included Face2Face (2001), Grown and Sexy (2005) and Playlist (2007), a compilation of covers.

With his wide ranging talents Babyface has also dabbled successfully in reality TV and professional sports.

TJ Grooves - Soul Music TV & Rare Soul Grooves.com