Babyface

    Collection of Babyface


    As a singer, producer, and songwriter, Babyface was an inescapable presence in virtually every major facet of pop music during the '90s. His own recordings helped rejuvenate the R&B tradition of the smooth, sensitive, urban crooner and made him a staple of urban contemporary radio. Yet their considerable success was eclipsed by his songwriting and production work for other artists, which linked him with some of the biggest stars and hit singles of the decade (and not just in the realm of R&B). You'd be hard-pressed to name a '90s hitmaker with a track record more consistently successful and versatile than Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds.

    Kenneth Edmonds was born April 10, 1959, in Indianapolis and began playing in local R&B bands as a teenager. He served a stint in Bootsy Collins' backing unit (where he earned his nickname) and subsequently joined the funk outfit Manchild, which signed a record deal in 1977 and released three albums. After their breakup, Babyface and partner Antonio "L.A." Reid formed an urban funk group called the Deele in the early '80s, which scored a few sizable hits on the R&B charts. Babyface and Reid began producing and writing for other artists on the side, landing hits in Pebbles' "Girlfriend" and the Whispers' "Rock Steady"; following the Deele's third album in 1988, the duo left to continue their outside activities full-time, co-founding the LaFace label in 1989. Further hits followed in Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step," Sheena Easton's "The Lover in Me," and Karyn White's "The Way You Love Me" and "Superwoman," all of which performed well on both the pop and R&B charts.

    Babyface had actually recorded a little-noticed solo album in 1986, titled Lovers, but with his newfound success having marked him as one to watch, his solo career now began in earnest. Released in 1989, Tender Lover caught fire, spinning off four singles over the next year, including the R&B chart smashes "It's No Crime" (number one) and "Whip Appeal" (number two; both also reached the pop Top Ten); the album also went double platinum. Now firmly established as a powerhouse, Babyface went on to co-write hits for Johnny Gill ("My, My, My," nominated for the Best R&B Song Grammy), Whitney Houston ("I'm Your Baby Tonight"), and Madonna ("Take a Bow"); his biggest success, however, came with Boyz II Men, whose recording of "End of the Road" became one of the longest-running number ones in pop history (the Babyface-penned follow-up "I'll Make Love to You" was also pretty successful in its own right). He was co-nominated for an Album of the Year Grammy for his production on The Bodyguard soundtrack and went on to work with artists like Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, En Vogue, and Mary J. Blige. As if that weren't enough, LaFace had become a highly successful and lucrative imprint, breaking artists like Toni Braxton, TLC, OutKast, and Usher (often with input from Reid and Babyface).

    It's no wonder Babyface wound up taking a break from his own career as a singer during the early '90s, releasing only a remix album, A Closer Look, in 1991. The proper follow-up to Tender Lover didn't appear until 1993; even so, For the Cool in You was an even bigger hit than its predecessor, going triple platinum and producing Babyface's first Top Five pop hit, the change-of-pace acoustic guitar ballad "When Can I See You Again" (which won him his first Grammy as a performer for Best Male R&B Vocal). In 1995, he scored another major success with the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, not only producing it but scoring the film itself and writing nearly all of its songs, including the Whitney Houston smash "Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)." The same year, he won the first of three consecutive Grammys as Producer of the Year. Successes just kept coming in 1996; the guest-laden album The Day spawned another Top Ten pop/R&B hit in "Every Time I Close My Eyes," and he solidified his crossover credentials once and for all by winning a Grammy for Record of the Year as producer of Eric Clapton's "Change the World."

    Encouraged by the success of Waiting to Exhale, Babyface and his wife, Tracey Edmonds, formed their own film production company, which debuted in 1997 with the acclaimed urban family comedy/drama Soul Food (Babyface, naturally, masterminded the soundtrack). The next year, he contributed lyrics to the animated musical The Prince of Egypt, which went uncredited on the soundtrack album. With the movies taking up more of his time, his next musical releases were quick one-offs: an MTV Unplugged album in 1997 and the seasonal Christmas with Babyface the next year. His production and songwriting activities continued, though he remained silent as a performer for a few years. In 2000, Epic released the best-of compilation A Collection of His Greatest Hits, marking the end of his tenure with the label; he had elected to move to Arista, where L.A. Reid had been a high-ranking executive. In 2001, Babyface released a new album, Face2Face, and also produced the punk-pop soundtrack for the film Josie & the Pussycats. The back-to-basics Grown & Sexy came in July 2005, followed by 2007's covers-based Playlist for Mercury. Allmusic by Steve Huey





    Album: Lovers (1986)









    01. You Make Me Feel Brand New
    02. Lovers
    03. Chivalry
    04. I Love You Babe
    05. Mary Mack
    06. Faithful
    07. If We Try
    08. Take Your Time
    09. I Love You Babe (Reprise)




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/KtrNR7h




    Album: Tender Lover (1989)










    01. It's No Crime
    02. Tender Lover
    03. Let's Be Romantic
    04. Can't Stop My Heart
    05. My Kinda Girl
    06. Where Will You Go (Prelude)
    07. Whip Appeal
    08. Soon As I Get Home
    09. Given A Chance
    10. Sunshine
    11. Where Will You Go




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/wjYhhzK




    Album: A Closer Look (1991)









    01. Mary Mack
    02. Two Occasions (Live)
    03. I Love You Babe
    04. Chivalry
    05. Lovers
    06. It's No Crime
    07. Love Saw It (duet with Karyn White)
    08. Love Makes Things Happen (duet with Pebbles)
    09. My Kinda Girl
    10. Whip Appeal
    11. Lovers (Jazz Lover's Mix)




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/R9FvNKe




    Album: For The Cool In You (1993)









    01. For The Cool In You
    02. Lady, Lady
    03. Never Keeping Secrets
    04. Rock Bottom
    05. And Our Feelings
    06. Saturday
    07. When Can I See You Again
    08. Illusions
    09. A Bit Old Fashioned
    10. You Are So Beautiful
    11. I'll Always Love You
    12. Well Alright




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/gZFvKhN




    Album: The Day (1996)










    01. Everytime I Close My Eyes
    02. Talk To Me
    03. I Said I Love You
    04. When Your Body Gets Weak
    05. Simple Days
    06. All Day Thinkin'
    07. Seven Seas
    08. The Day (That You Gave Me A Son)
    09. How Come, How Long
    10. This Is For The Lover In You




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/YevYKe4




    Album: MTV Unplugged NYC (1997)









    01. Change the World
    02. Talk to Me
    03. Whip Appeal
    04. Breathe Again
    05. Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)
    06. I'll Make Love to You
    07. End of the Road
    08. I Care About You
    09. The Day (That You Gave Me a Son)
    10. Gone Too Soon
    11. How Come, How Long




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/WAuGUdr




    Album: A Collection of His Greatest Hits (2000)









    01. For the Cool in You
    02. It's No Crime
    03. Whip Appeal
    04. Never Keeping Secrets
    05. Every Time I Close My Eyes
    06. When Can I See You Again
    07. Reason for Breathing
    08. This Is for the Lover in You
    09. How Come, How Long
    10. Change the World (Live)
    11. I Love You Babe
    12. Soon as I Get Home
    13. Where Will You Go
    14. When Men Grow Old




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/PGthPJD



    Album: Face2Face (2001)









    01. Outside In (Inside Out)
    02. There She Goes
    03. What If
    04. Stressed Out
    05. Baby's Mama
    06. How Can U Be Down
    07. Work It Out
    08. I Keep Callin'
    09. With Him
    10. Wish U Was My Girl
    11. U Should Know
    12. Don't Take It So Personal
    13. Still In Love With U
    14. Lover And Friend




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/x9bPUVS




    Album: Love Songs (2001)









    01. I Said I Love You
    02. All Day Thinkin'
    03. This Is for the Lover in You
    04. Lady, Lady
    05. For the Cool in You
    06. A Bit Old-Fashioned
    07. Never Keeping Secrets
    08. When Can I See You
    09. Whip Appeal
    10. Soon as I Get Home
    11. Given a Chance
    12. Sunshine
    13. Every Time I Close My Eyes
    14. When Your Body Gets Weak
    15. Lovers
    16. You Make Me Feel Brand New




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/BNSEHHN




    Album: The Essential Babyface (2003)









    01. I Said I Love You
    02. Never Keeping Secrets
    03. Every Time I Close My Eyes
    04. Talk to Me
    05. When Can I See You
    06. For the Cool in You
    07. My Kinda Girl
    08.Whip Appeal
    09. Soon as I Get Home
    10. Well Alright
    11. The Day (That You Gave Me a Son)
    12. How Come, How Long
    13. This Is for the Lover in You
    14. Medley I'll Make Love to You End of the Road [Live]
    15. Medley I'll Make Love to You End of the Road (Continued) [Live]




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/amzvZfn





    Album: A Love Story (2004)











    01 - God Must Love You
    02 - Red Dress
    03 - The Getting 2 Know U
    04 - Makin' Love
    05 - Love Song
    06 - The Sentimental Reasons
    07 - The Loneliness
    08 - Wish That I Could Tell You
    09 - Together Forever
    10 - Still My Boo




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/DwzZfBh




    Album: Grown & Sexy (2005)









    01. Tonight It's Goin' Down
    02. Grown & Sexy
    03. Mad, Sexy, Cool
    04. Can't Stop Now
    05. Goin' Outta Business
    06. Drama, Love & 'Lationships
    07. Sorry For The Stupid Things
    08. Good To Be In Love
    09. The Loneliness
    10. She
    11. God Must Love U
    12. Gettin' To Know U
    13. She's International




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/3BNgzrY




    Album: The Other Side of Cool (2005)









    01. It's No Crime [IJ Extended Mix]
    02. For the Cool in You [Chicago House Club Vocal Mix]
    03. My Kinda Girl [Scratch Mix]
    04. Whip Appeal [The Ultimate Whip][Mix]
    05. Tender Lover [The Long Mix]
    06. Every Time I Close My Eyes [Timbaland Remix]
    07. How Come, How Long [Laws & Craigie Remix]
    08. Rock Bottom [CJ Deep Club Mix]
    09. This Is for the Lover in You [Puffy's Face to Face Mix]
    10. When Can I See You [Extended Club Mix]




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/SpYqv2Y




    Album: Playlist (2007)









    01. Shower The People
    02. Fire And Rain
    03. Not Going Nowhere
    04. Time In A Bottle
    05. Wonderful Tonight
    06. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
    07. Longer
    08. The Soldier Song
    09. Please Come To Boston
    10. Diary




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/THe3MQ4




    Album: From The Heart (2009)









    01. I Said I Love You
    02. All Day Thinkin'
    03. This Is for the Lover in You
    04. Lady, Lady
    05. For the Cool in You
    06. A Bit Old-Fashioned
    07. Never Keeping Secrets
    08. When Can I See You
    09. Whip Appeal
    10. Soon as I Get Home
    11. Given a Chance
    12. Sunshine
    13. Every Time I Close My Eyes
    14. When Your Body Gets Weak
    15. Lovers
    16. You Make Me Feel Brand New




    http://www.fileserve.com/file/yjpQTsX




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