Toni Braxton

“This time around, we’re going to give people something different, something that’s not familiar. Sometimes, artists can get confined by what they’ve done in the past. I’m ready to show other sides of what I can do musically.”

Multi-award winning global hitmaker Toni Braxton is talking about her fifth album MORE THAN A WOMAN, which finds her working with some of today’s hottest music producers including The Neptunes and Rodney Jerkins among others. “This record is more ‘in your face’ than my previous albums,” she explains. “My first love has always been R&B and I’ve been into hip-hop since it first started. On each of my albums, I’ve done things to introduce people to other aspects of what I’m about musically. It’s so funny – when people hear I’m working with The Neptunes, they’re like ‘I wonder what that will sound like?’ because they think of songs like “Breathe Again” and “Unbreak My Heart.” The truth is, I’m just being a part of my own generation…and we grew up with rap and hip-hop as well as R&B!” “Hit The Freeway,” the infectious hard-driving Neptunes-produced first single is already shaping up to be one of Toni’s biggest hits. She recalls, “When I first heard the track, I knew it was hot. I tailored the verses to work for me and the final record combines our two approaches to the song.” Other producers involved with MORE THAN A WOMAN include Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds and Toni’s husband Keri Lewis, who co-executive produced the album with her and Arista President and CEO Antonio “LA” Reid. Toni collaborated on several of the tunes on the set with Lewis and with sister Tamar, among others, giving the album a particularly personal touch. “I guess you could say I’m the ‘musical mistress of heartache’ because of the sad songs I’ve done on my previous albums,” Toni reflects. “Well, we do have one happy love song, “Always” (co-written with singer Brandy’s husband Big Burt) but I have quite a few other tunes that have typical Toni Braxton themes. Take “Let Me Show You The Way (Out)” which I co-wrote with Tamar, who I’ve always known is a good writer, something everyone else is just discovering. It’s a traditional Toni angry kinda song about me showing a guy that I have the strength to put him out! The lyrical theme behind “Selfish” is simple: I don’t want no girls paging my man, no chicks e-mailing him. While it’s not something that I’m dealing with right now, it is definitely something I can relate to from when I was single…” The hypnotic “Me And My Boyfriend” (which uses a sample from the late Tupac Shakur’s “Me And My Girlfriend”) was co-written with Ashanti and sister Tamar among others; while the haunting acoustic-flavored “Rock Me, Roll Me” was a collaboration with husband Keri (with whom Toni is expecting another child in 2003). “That song is really addressed to men. I know how guys get together and talk about us women and I know a guy might say something like, ‘as beautiful as she is, she’s crazy!’ In the song, I’m trying to explain what makes us crazy, what makes us insecure. Like if a man would just spend a little more time with his woman, you know, maybe that craziness would disappear…”

In a markedly different musical vein, “Lies, Lies, Lies” is a rock-flavored cut Keri wrote and produced: “It was a song he wrote a while ago and he was going to submit it to someone else but then we agreed that I could do it myself. You see, I’ve always liked rock and this is the first time I got to do it.”

In contrast is “And I Love You” which was written and produced by Babyface: “Babyface is one of the reasons I’m here as a recording artist! For as long as I’m making records, there will be always be a Babyface song on my album.”

Singer/songwriter Andrea Martin contributed the song “A Better Man,” a left-of-center cut with a loping hip-hop beat. Toni says, “It’s got a ’Be A Man About It’ kind of lyric. My friends tell me, ‘just because you’re happy right now in your life, everyone doesn’t want to hear it!’ It’s so funny sometimes, people ask me to sing at their weddings and I’m like, ‘Why? What do you want me to sing?’ I mean, most of my songs are not happy ones!” Not that Toni herself hasn’t experienced her own share of the natural ups and downs in any relationship: “The song “Tell Me” is based on a true story about my husband. He got in trouble – he went to Las Vegas for the bachelor party he never had when we got married. Well, you know bachelor parties are gonna have girls, strippers, the whole bit. Well, turns out he danced with two girls at the same time! He was in the doghouse for quite a while after that,” Toni laughs, “but it did inspire a song – like I say, if you want a private dancer, we can put a pole in the house and I can be that for you, myself!”

MORE THAN A WOMAN reflects Toni’s love and passion for her work although she admits that being a mother – to son Denim, born in December 2001 – and wife of producer/songwriter Keri Lewis (formerly of the group Mint Condition) have created new priorities for her: “Having a child has totally changed my life. Recording isn’t the same anymore,” says Toni, who is expecting her second baby in 2003. “Keri and I were working on songs at home for the new album and there were a few occasions when I was holding Denim and singing at the same time! And we resurrected that old tradition of recording in the bathroom because the acoustics are so good in there!”

As she looks back on her first accomplishment-filled decade as a recording artist, performer and multi-faceted entertainer, Toni Braxton could easily rest on her laurels. Rather, she is always looking for new challenges artistically, musically and personally, building on the solid foundation that includes cumulative sales of close to forty million albums and singles worldwide and six Grammy Awards making her unquestionably one of the most successful female artists in contemporary music.

Indeed, Toni’s instantly-recognizable sultry vocal blend of gospel, R&B, jazz and pop has been captivating music buyers across the globe since 1992 when she became the first female artist to sign to then-newly formed LaFace Records. With natural musical skills that were immediately evident when she started singing in church with her four sisters in Severn, Maryland and inspired by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan and Whitney Houston, Toni had set her sights on a singing career. It was while studying to become a teacher at Bowie State University that she came to the attention of LaFace owners L.A. Reid and Babyface. Her first taste of success came with two hits from the triple platinum soundtrack for the1992 Eddie Murphy movie, “Boomerang” in the form of “Give U My Heart” (a duet with Babyface) and the pop and R&B smash “Love Shoulda Brought You Home.”

Audiences everywhere were eager to hear more of Toni and her self-titled debut, released in the summer of 1993, spawning the classics “Another Sad Love Song” (gold, No. 2 R&B, No. 7 pop) and ‘Breathe Again’ (gold, No 4 R&B, No. 3 pop). The track “Seven Whole Days” achieved No. 1 status based on airplay; while two other singles, “You Mean the World To Me” (gold) and “I Belong To You” were also Top 10 R&B hits for ‘The First Lady of LaFace’. In all, TONI BRAXTON sold an astounding ten million albums internationally, garnering her first two Grammy Awards in 1993 for “Best New Artist” and “Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female” for “Another Sad Love Song.” Three American Music Awards and two Soul Train Music Awards followed and in 1994, Toni picked up her third Grammy when “Breathe Again” won her the “Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female” award.

In 1995, Toni began working on her all-important second album: SECRETS sold an incredible seven million copies domestically and an additional six million outside the U.S. following its July, 1996 release. The hit streak continued with the provocative single “You’re Makin’ Me High,” Toni’s first across-the-board No. 1 pop and R&B hit and another Grammy winner for her (“Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female”).

Released in the fall of 1996, the poignant, soulful ballad “Un-Break My Heart” became another pop chartopper, earning Toni another Grammy Award (for “Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female”), a Billboard Award (for “Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female”) and a Billboard Award as “Adult Contemporary Single of the Year.” A third single, “I Don’t Want To” also went gold and Toni embarked on a major international tour with Kenny G in 1997.

In 1998 Toni began recording her third album “THE HEAT.” The first single, “He Wasn’t Man Enough” became a million-selling single adding to a collection of sales awards that also included the certified “Hit Video Collection.” Beyond the worldwide response to THE HEAT, making the album was a particularly satisfying creative experience for Toni: she wrote or collaborated on eight of the album’s twelve tracks as well as producing or co-producing five songs including “The Art Of Love,” “‘Speaking In Tongues” and the smoldering title track. The record was a global best-seller with over four million sales worldwide. The album’s gold single “He Wasn’t Man Enough” earned Toni a 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance” while the album won two American Music Awards.,

While doing promotion work on THE HEAT, Toni made her silver screen debut with “Kingdom Come” which featured an all-star cast. The experience was both rewarding and challenging: “I really enjoyed it and it inspired me to want to do more film work,” says Toni. In 2000, she was also given the coveted Aretha Franklin Soul Train Award for career achievement.

The October 2001 release of SNOWFLAKES, Toni’s critically-acclaimed holiday album provided further validation for her popularity: “It did really well and I was very excited about the reaction it received,” she says. “I still get very nervous every time I put out a record so it was very rewarding to get such a good response.” The nine-track set included songs produced by husband Keri Lewis and a few tunes produced by Daryl Simmons and Babyface, and featured a duet with Shaggy as well as a number of original tunes co-penned by Toni.

Now that she has a family, Toni’s future plans include further growth as an actress and entertainer. Music is still the central theme as Toni embarks on the second decade of her illustrious career with the release of MORE THAN A WOMAN. “I had total freedom to go where I wanted to go musically on this album. LA Reid has always let me express myself creatively.” And while she continues to reinvent herself with her music, Toni Braxton can proudly look back at ten years of solid success: “It’s been a fabulous career but I’ve still got so much more to do, so many possibilities to pursue…”