Toni Braxton

Toni Braxton (2015, press photo)

Toni Michelle Braxton (* 7. October 1967 in Severn , Anne Arundel County ) is an American Soul - and R & B - singer . According to the sources, the seven-time Grammy winner has sold more than 30 million records in her career. Toni Braxton's most successful release is the Secrets album, with around twelve million units sold.

childhood

Toni Braxton was born in October 1967 to a clergyman and a housewife in Severn, Maryland , south of Baltimore . Already at the age of five she appeared as part of the local church choir at charity concerts and singing competitions in front of larger audiences. Like her younger brother and her four sisters Traci, Trina, Towanda and Tamar , she first attended Richard Henry Lee Elementary School, and later Corkran Middle School and Glen Burnie High School . Her subsequent studies at Bowie State University Braxton dropped out in favor of a singing career.

Career

The beginnings

At the end of the 1980s, the Braxton sisters decided to try their luck together with the formation The Braxtons, a step that led to a recording contract with Arista Records just a year after the band was founded (1989) . The first single The Good Life , which was released in the summer of 1990, was hardly successful, but first attracted the interest of producers Antonio “LA” Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds , who a little later signed a contract as a solo performer with their sub-label LaFace Records offered. Braxton then left the band and released two hits for Eddie Murphy's box office hit Boomerang in 1992 with the duet Give U My Heart and Love Shoulda Brought You Home .

A little later, Braxton began to record her self-named debut album , which was released in July 1993. Thanks to various productions by Reid, Babyface and Daryl Simmons, the record developed into a remarkable success with eight platinum awards and over ten million units sold worldwide. Toni Braxton climbed to number 1 on the US album charts and reached the top 10 in a number of other countries, including Great Britain , Germany , Austria and Switzerland . Toni Braxton received the Grammy Award for Best New Artist 1994 and the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for Another Sad Love Song as well as three American Music Awards . The five singles Another Sad Love Song , Breathe Again , Seven Whole Days , You Mean the World to Me and How Many Ways could at least score in English-speaking countries. She received another Grammy for best R&B performance for Breathe Again in 1995, for You're Makin 'Me High in 1997 and He Wasn't Man Enough in 2001.

The success of the debut was surpassed by Braxton's second album Secrets in 1996 . Although the record only reached number 2 in the USA , it sold more than twelve million copies and brought Braxton eight other platinum awards. Toni Braxton cemented her prominence in the music business with the number 1 hit You're Makin 'Me High , I Don't Want To and the Kenny G duet How Could on Angel Break My Heart . The singer had the greatest success of her career with the ballad Un-Break My Heart, composed and written by Diane Warren : The song stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for eleven weeks and also reached number 1 in Austria and Switzerland.

As part of its commitment in the Broadway - Musical Beauty and the Beast and its subsequent tour learned Braxton 1997 know the musician and later producer Keri Lewis, who as a member of the support band Mint Condition accompanied by the United States. After separating from football player Curtis Martin , the two married in April 2001. They have two sons, who were born in 2001 and 2003.

After settling disputes with Arista Records Toni Braxton released her third studio album The Heat in January 2000 . Despite high chart positions and the hit single He Wasn't Man Enough produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins , the album, with four million copies sold, did not match the success of its two predecessors. The two other releases Just Be a Man About It and Spanish Guitar also received only moderate placements.

In 2001 Braxton released her first Christmas album called Snowflakes .

The 2000s

Braxton's fourth studio album was released in 2002 with More Than a Woman . The record sold around a million times worldwide. When the singles Lies, Lies, Lies and Let Me Show You the Way (Out) also failed, Arista decided to finally part ways with Braxton in the course of the release of the greatest hits CD Ultimate Toni Braxton .

After signing a contract with the independent label Blackground Records, Braxton's fifth album Libra came out in September 2005 (after a number of postponements). Although the two releases Please and Trippin '(That's the Way Love Works) again barely made it into the charts, the record met with interest, at least in the USA.

In the German-speaking countries, the CD was re-released in June 2006 including the official soccer World Cup song The Time of Our Lives (together with Il Divo ). From 2006 on, Braxton had a show at the Hotel Flamingo Las Vegas , which it ended prematurely in April 2008 due to health problems.

In 2008 Braxton took part in the US version of Let's Dance .

In August 2008, various websites spread the news that Braxton would be a candidate for the seventh season of Dancing with the Stars . Braxton and her dance partner Alec Mazo were voted out by the audience in week 5 of the show.

In November 2009, Braxton announced that she and Lewis had split up.

On May 7, 2010, the studio album Pulse was released in German-speaking countries at the same time as the first single, Yesterday . In Switzerland and the USA, the album rose to number 9.

Late career

In January 2011, it was confirmed that Braxton had signed a contract for a reality series called Braxton Family Values . The series kicked off April 12, 2011 and shed light on the relationship between Braxton, her mother, and her four sisters Trina, Tamar, Traci and Towanda. Another component was her separation from Keri Lewis.

In 2012 the film The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure was released. Braxton's character - Rosalie Rosebud - has an exaggerated personality and was apparently inspired by Mariah Carey . Later that year, Braxton confirmed that she would be working on her eighth studio album. According to an interview, their new single should be released in March 2012 and be titled "I Heart You". Shortly after the single was released, rumors started circulating that Braxton was about to retire. These rumors were confirmed personally by Braxton on February 7, 2013. On a promotional tour for her new film "Twist of Faith" she gave as a reason to want to concentrate more on her acting career in the future.

Just a year later, Braxton announced that she wanted to continue her music career with a summer tour and was back in the studio to record her eighth album. The album was nominated for the world's best album at the World Music Awards in 2014 and also won the award for "Best R&B Album" at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015 .

In September 2013 it was announced that Braxton would be returning to Broadway and starring on the new play "After Midnight".

Braxton announced a new season of Braxton Family Values in May 2015 and talked about the studio recordings of their new, eighth album. She also promised that a new single would be out by the end of the year. In September gave Lifetime green light for a biopic Braxton, on: to base "Unbreak My Heart A Memoir". Braxton himself will appear in it and also act as executive producer , Vondie Curtis-Hall will direct. Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart was released in 2016, starring Lex Scott Davis,

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
1993	Toni Braxton	DE7 (43 weeks) DE	-	-	UK4th gold (37 weeks)UK	US1 × 8 Eight times platinum (96 weeks)US	R&B1 (105 weeks) R&B	First published: July 13, 1993 Sales: + 8,465,000
1996	Secrets	DE2 platinum (69 weeks)DE	AT2 platinum (23 weeks)AT	CH1 × 2 Double platinum (59 weeks)CH	UK10 × 2 Double platinum (83 weeks)UK	US2 × 8 Eight times platinum (92 weeks)US	R&B1 (92 weeks) R&B	First published: June 18, 1996 Sales: + 12,000,000
2000	The Heat	DE3 gold (27 weeks)DE	AT7 (9 weeks) AT	CH2 gold (36 weeks)CH	UK3 gold (23 weeks)UK	US2 × 2 Double platinum (47 weeks)US	R&B1 (50 weeks) R&B	First published: April 25, 2000 Sales: + 2,600,000
2001	Snowflakes	DE92 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	US119 gold (8 weeks)US	R&B57 (7 weeks) R&B	First release: October 23, 2001 Christmas album; Sales: + 500,000
2002	More Than a Woman	DE37 (6 weeks) DE	-	CH23 (11 weeks) CH	-	US13 gold (14 weeks)US	R&B5 (20 weeks) R&B	First published: November 19, 2002 Sales: + 500,000
2005	Libra	DE60 (2 weeks) DE	-	CH25 (6 weeks) CH	-	US4th gold (15 weeks)US	R&B2 (30 weeks) R&B	First published: September 27, 2005 Sales: + 500,000
2010	Pulse	DE18 (4 weeks) DE	AT32 (3 weeks) AT	CH9 (8 weeks) CH	UK28 (2 weeks) UK	US9 (9 weeks) US	R&B1 (23 weeks) R&B	First published: May 4, 2010
2014	Love, Marriage & Divorce	-	-	-	UK75 (2 weeks) UK	US4 (17 weeks) US	R&B1 (37 weeks) R&B	First published: February 3rd, 2014 collaboration with Babyface
2018	Sex & Cigarettes	-	-	-	UK33 (1 week) UK	US22 (2 weeks) US	R&B14 (1 week) R&B	First published: March 23, 2018
2020	Spell my name	-	-	-	-	-	-	First published: August 28, 2020

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
2003	Ultimate Toni Braxton	-	-	CH86 (1 week) CH	UK23 gold (4 weeks)UK	US119 (2 weeks) US	R&B43 (6 weeks) R&B	First published: November 4th, 2003 Sales: + 100,000
2004	Platinum & Gold Collection	-	-	-	-	-	R&B78 (5 weeks) R&B	First published: October 12, 2004
2005	Breathe Again: Toni Braxton at Her Best	-	-	-	-	-	R&B96 (2 weeks) R&B	First published: April 26, 2005
2007	The Essential Toni Braxton	-	-	-	-	-	R&B48 (2 weeks) R&B	First published: February 20, 2007 Sales: + 60,000
	Number one albums	DE-DE	AT-AT	CH1CH	UK-UK	US1US	R&B5R&B
	Top 10 albums	DE3DE	AT2AT	CH3CH	UK3UK	US6thUS	R&B7thR&B
	Albums in the charts	DE7thDE	AT3AT	CH6thCH	UK7thUK	US10US	R&B13R&B

More compilations

year	title	Remarks
2004	Artist Collection: Toni Braxton	First published: October 12, 2004
2005	Un-Break My Heart: The Remix Collection	First published: April 12, 2005
2007	The Best So Far	First published: April 2007
2008	Playlist: The Very Best of Toni Braxton	First published: October 28, 2008
2009	Breathe Again: The Best of Toni Braxton	First published: June 5, 2009
2010	Essential mixes	First published: September 20, 2010

Box sets

year	title	Remarks
2006	The Collection	Initial release: June 13, 2006 contains the albums Secrets , The Heat and More Than a Woman
2011	Secrets / More Than a Woman	First published: October 4, 2011

EPs

year	title	Remarks
2007	Discover	First published: November 30, 2007
2010	Discover More	First published: November 9, 2010
	Discover Further	First published: November 9, 2010
	Discover Beyond	First published: November 9, 2010
2011	Soul Pack	First published: June 7, 2011

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
1992	Love Shoulda Brought You Home Toni Braxton / Boomerang (OST)	-	-	-	UK33 (4 weeks) UK	US33 (20 weeks) US	R&B4 (27 weeks) R&B	First published: December 1, 1992
1993	Another Sad Love Song Toni Braxton	DE60 (10 weeks) DE	-	-	UK15 (12 weeks) UK	US7th gold (26 weeks)US	R&B2 (32 weeks) R&B	First published: June 29, 1993 Sales: + 500,000
	Breathe Again Toni Braxton	DE52 (11 weeks) DE	-	-	UK2 silver (12 weeks)UK	US3 gold (35 weeks)US	R&B4 (24 weeks) R&B	First published: November 9, 1993 Sales: + 715,000
1994	You Mean the World to Me Toni Braxton	DE69 (7 weeks) DE	-	-	UK30 (5 weeks) UK	US7th gold (31 weeks)US	R&B3 (26 weeks) R&B	First published: May 3, 1994 Sales: + 500,000
	I Belong to You / How Many Ways Toni Braxton	-	-	-	-	US28 (21 weeks) US	R&B6 (31 weeks) R&B	First published: November 15, 1994
1996	You're Makin 'Me High / Let It Flow Secrets	DE47 (17 weeks) DE	-	-	UK7 (11 weeks) UK	US1 platinum (41 weeks)US	R&B1 (42 weeks) R&B	First published: May 21, 1996 Sales: + 1,285,000
	Un-Break My Heart Secrets	DE2 platinum (31 weeks)DE	AT1 gold (20 weeks)AT	CH1 gold (30 weeks)CH	UK2 platinum (19 weeks)UK	US1 platinum (42 weeks)US	R&B2 (28 weeks) R&B	First published: October 7, 1996 Sales: + 2,367,500
1997	I Don't Want To / I Love Me Some Him Secrets	DE37 (15 weeks) DE	AT11 (12 weeks) AT	-	UK9 (8 weeks) UK	US19th gold (20 weeks)US	R&B9 (26 weeks) R&B	First published: March 11, 1997 Sales: + 525,000
	How Could an Angel Break My Heart Secrets	-	-	-	UK22 (4 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: November 4th 1997 feat. Kenny G
2000	He Wasn't Man Enough The Heat	DE20 (16 weeks) DE	-	CH7 (26 weeks) CH	UK5 silver (14 weeks)UK	US2 gold (37 weeks)US	R&B1 (27 weeks) R&B	First published: March 7, 2000 Sales: + 775,000
	Just Be a Man About It The Heat	-	-	-	-	US32 (20 weeks) US	R&B6 (37 weeks) R&B	First published: July 2000
	Spanish Guitar The Heat	DE45 (9 weeks) DE	AT28 (8 weeks) AT	CH36 (11 weeks) CH	-	US98 (3 weeks) US	R&B75 (9 weeks) R&B	First published: September 19, 2000
2001	Maybe The Heat	-	-	-	-	-	R&B74 (7 weeks) R&B	First published: 2001
2002	Hit the Freeway More Than a Woman	DE56 (11 weeks) DE	-	CH38 (11 weeks) CH	UK29 (3 weeks) UK	US86 (14 weeks) US	R&B32 (20 weeks) R&B	First release: October 15, 2002 feat. Loon
2005	Please Libra	-	-	-	-	-	R&B36 (22 weeks) R&B	First published: May 30, 2005
	Trippin '(That's the Way Love Works) Libra	-	-	-	-	-	R&B67 (13 weeks) R&B	First published: September 26, 2005
2006	The Time of Our Lives Libra	DE17 (9 weeks) DE	AT24 (7 weeks) AT	CH8 (16 weeks) CH	-	-	-	First published: June 9, 2006 with Il Divo
2009	Yesterday Pulse	DE20 (5 weeks) DE	AT49 (2 weeks) AT	CH17 (11 weeks) CH	UK50 (2 weeks) UK	-	R&B12 (21 weeks) R&B	First release: September 20, 2009 feat. Trey Songz
2010	Hands tied pulse	-	-	-	-	-	R&B29 (20 weeks) R&B	First published: February 23, 2010
2013	Hurt you pulse	-	-	-	-	-	R&B33 (8 weeks) R&B	First published: August 17th, 2013 with Babyface

More singles

• 1993: Seven Whole Days
• 2001: Snowflakes of Love
• 2001: Christmas in Jamaica ( feat.Shaggy )
• 2005: Take This Ring
• 2006: Suddenly
• 2006: The Time of Our Lives (with Il Divo )
• 2010: Make My Heart
• 2012: I Heart You
• 2013: Where Did We Go Wrong (with Babyface)
• 2017: Deadwood
• 2018: Long as I Live
• 2018: FOH
• 2020: Do It

As a guest musician

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)						Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US	R&B
1992	Give U My Heart Boomerang (OST)	-	-	-	-	US29 (16 weeks) US	R&B2 (17 weeks) R&B	First published: July 7, 1992 Babyface feat. Toni Braxton
2010	We Are the World (25 for Haiti)	-	-	-	UK50 (1 week) UK	US2 (5 weeks) US	-	First published: February 12, 2010 as part of Artists for Haiti
	Number one singles	DE-DE	AT1AT	CH1CH	UK-UK	US2US	R&B2R&B
	Top 10 singles	DE1DE	AT1AT	CH3CH	UK5UK	US6thUS	R&B11R&B
	Singles in the charts	DE10DE	AT5AT	CH6thCH	UK11UK	US13US	R&B19thR&B

Further guest contributions

• 2003: Baby You Can Do It ( Birdman feat.Toni Braxton)

Video albums

year	title	Remarks
1994	The Hit Video Collection	First published: May 24, 1994
2000	He Wasn't Man Enough	First published: November 21, 2000
	Just Be a Man About It	First published: November 21, 2000
2001	From Toni with Love… The Video Collection	First published: November 20, 2001

Awards for music sales

→ Main article : Toni Braxton / Awards for Music Sales

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Australia (ARIA)	-	2 × gold2	4 × platinum4th	350,000	aria.com.au
Belgium (BEA)	-	3 × gold3	2 × platinum2	175,000	ultratop.be
Brazil (PMB)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	210,000	pro-musicabr.org.br
Germany (BVMI)	-	gold1	2 × platinum2	1,250,000	musikindustrie.de
Europe (IFPI)	-	-	3 × platinum3	(3,000,000)	ifpi.org ( Memento from October 15, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
Finland (IFPI)	-	gold1	-	35,227	ifpi.fi
France (SNEP)	-	2 × gold2	-	350,000	infodisc.fr snepmusique.com
Japan (RIAJ)	-	2 × gold2	platinum1	400,000	riaj.or.jp
Canada (MC)	-	-	9 × platinum9	900,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	-	2 × gold2	4 × platinum4th	82,500	nztop40.co.nz
Netherlands (NVPI)	-	2 × gold2	3 × platinum3	375,000	nvpi.nl
Norway (IFPI)	-	-	3 × platinum3	70,000	ifpi.no
Austria (IFPI)	-	gold1	platinum1	75,000	ifpi.at
Poland (ZPAV)	-	-	platinum1	100,000	zpav.pl
Sweden (IFPI)	-	-	2 × platinum2	110,000	Individual evidence
Switzerland (IFPI)	-	2 × gold2	2 × platinum2	150,000	hitparade.ch
Spain (Promusicae)	-	gold1	-	50,000	mediafire.com
United States (RIAA)	-	9 × gold9	20 × platinum20th	24,050,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	3 × silver3	3 × gold3	3 × platinum3	2,100,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	3 × silver3	33 × gold33	61 × platinum61

Filmography

• 2001: Kingdom Come
• 2002: Play'd: A Hip Hop Story

swell

1. ↑ http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/toni-braxton-booted-dancing-stars-article-1.303168
2. ↑ SpotOn: Toni Braxton: Toni Braxton is officially divorced. In: Focus Online . July 25, 2013, accessed October 14, 2018 . 
3. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1861510/
4. ↑ http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/538/ms_impulsive/
5. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520498/
6. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ http://www.t-online.de/unterhaltung/musik/id_62077696/toni-braxton-us-saengerin-un-break-my-heart-beendet-karriere.html
9. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-grammys-2015-nominees-winners-list-story.html
10. ↑ http://thatgrapejuice.net/2015/05/watch-toni-braxton-announces-new-single-album-due-this-year/
11. ↑ http://deadline.com/2015/09/toni-braxton-life-story-lifetime-movie-unbreak-my-heart-1201528565/
12. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

Commons : Toni Braxton  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Braxton's German website
• Toni Braxton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Toni Braxton at Discogs (English)