Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Biography

Kenneth Brian Edmonds (born April 10, 1959), better known by his stage name Babyface, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career and has won 12 Grammy Awards - He received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year from 1996 to 1998. He was ranked number 20 on NME's 50 of The Greatest Producers Ever list. He is known for his work on Ghostbusters II (1989), Bad Boys (1995), and Waiting to Exhale (1995). His production company produced the films Soul Food, Josie and the Pussycats, New in Town, End of the Road (2022), and the BET reality series College Hill (2004-2009). From the late 1980s to the early 90s, he wrote R&B and dance songs, writing and producing music for Bobby Brown ("Roni"), Karyn White ("Love Saw It"), Pebbles ("Girlfriend", "Mercedes Boy"), The Whispers ("Rock Steady", "In the Mood"), The Deele ("Two Occasions"), Johnny Gill ("My My My"), After 7 ("Ready or Not"), The Boys ("Dial My Heart"), Damian Dame ("Right Down to It",) and Sheena Easton. In 1989, Edmonds co-founded LaFace Records with Reid. Three of the label's early artists, TLC, Usher, and Toni Braxton, were very successful. TLC's second album CrazySexyCool, for which he wrote and produced some of the hits, became the best-selling album of all time by an American girl group. "I'm Your Baby Tonight" (1990), which he produced for Whitney Houston, was his first No. 1 Top 40 hit in the US. He wrote and produced Boyz II Men's 1992 "End of the Road" and 1994 "I'll Make Love to You", both of which established records for the longest stay at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He also wrote and produced the No. 1 hit "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" for Houston as well as the rest of the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack in 1995, which spawned additional hits for Houston, Brandy,  and Mary J. Blige. He has produced and written music for many other artists including Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, Phil Collins, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Michael Bolton, Paula Abdul, Eric Clapton, Kenny G, Chaka Khan, Chanté Moore, En Vogue, Xscape, K-Ci & JoJo, Faith Evans, Sisqó, Dru Hill, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Céline Dion, P!nk, Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy, Katharine McPhee, Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande, Jordin Sparks, and Zendaya, among many others. In the mid-1990s, he and his then-wife Tracey Edmonds expanded into the business of motion pictures. Upon setting up Edmonds Entertainment Group, the company produced films such as Soul Food (1997), Josie and the Pussycats (2001), and the soundtrack for the film The Prince of Egypt (1998), which included contributions from Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. They also executive produced the BET reality series College Hill (2004-2009). He founded his record label Soda Pop Records in 2009 and signed R&B icons K-Ci & JoJo, releasing their first album for the label entitled My Brother's Keeper. He was portrayed by Wesley Jonathan in the 2015 Lifetime biopic Whitney and is portrayed by actor Gavin Houston in the Lifetime biopic based on Toni Braxton entitled Un-Break My Heart, in early 2016. He participated as a duet partner on the FOX's Celebrity Duets (2006). In 2016, he competed on season 23 of Dancing with the Stars. ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Movies