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://www66.zippyshare.com/v/8464203/file.html




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://www19.zippyshare.com/v/71476700/file.html




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://www33.zippyshare.com/v/97425194/file.html




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://www20.zippyshare.com/v/87989477/file.html




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://www56.zippyshare.com/v/3482820/file.html




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://www62.zippyshare.com/v/42945018/file.html




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://www21.zippyshare.com/v/40178073/file.html



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://www64.zippyshare.com/v/59014826/file.html




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://www11.zippyshare.com/v/44438518/file.html




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://www51.zippyshare.com/v/9739410/file.html





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://www16.zippyshare.com/v/39260001/file.html




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://www7.zippyshare.com/v/71543021/file.html




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://www2.zippyshare.com/v/46131888/file.html




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://www3.zippyshare.com/v/29878637/file.html




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://www62.zippyshare.com/v/96715288/file.html




Enjoy!!!!