Background

Toni Michelle Braxton was born on October 7, 1967, in Severn, Maryland, to parents Michael Braxton, a minister, and his wife, Evelyn. Brought up in a strict, religious household that prohibited any sort of engagement with popular culture, Braxton and her four younger sisters - Traci, Towanda, Trina, and Tamar - began singing at an early age at their father's church. Over time, Michael and Evelyn eased their household rules, allowing their daughters to gain more exposure to soul and rock singers like Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan.

Education

For Braxton especially, music became a central component in her life. She entered a number of local talent shows and also collaborated considerably with her sisters. Following her graduation from Glenn Burnie High School in 1984, Braxton planned on becoming a music teacher and enrolled at Bowie State University, but was easily swayed to leave college when songwriter Bill Pettaway overheard Braxton singing to herself at a gas station. Pettaway, who had recently penned Milli Vanilli's "Girl You Know It's True" hit single, was moved by Braxton's husky, driving voice.

Career

With Bill Pettaway's help, Braxton and her sisters signed with Arista Records in 1990 as a group dubbed simply the Braxtons.

The Braxtons released a single in 1990 called "The Good Life," and while it wasn't a hit, it caught the attention of L.A. Reid and Babyface, the red-hot songwriting/production team who had just formed their own label, LaFace (which was associated with Arista). Braxton became the first female artist signed to LaFace in 1991, and the following year she was introduced to the listening public with a high-profile appearance on the soundtrack of Eddie Murphy's Boomerang. Not only did her solo cut "Love Shoulda Brought You Home" become a substantial pop and R&B hit, but she also duetted with Babyface himself on "Give U My Heart." Anticipation for Braxton's first album ran high, and when her eponymous solo debut was released in 1993, it was an across-the-board smash, climbing to number one on both the pop and R&B charts. It spun off hit after hit, including three more Top Ten singles in "Another Sad Love Song," "Breathe Again," and "You Mean the World to Me," plus the double-sided R&B hit "I Belong to You"/"How Many Ways." Toni Braxton's run of popularity lasted well into 1995. By that time, Braxton had scored Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal ("Another Sad Love Song"), and tacked on another win in the latter category for "Breath Again."

To tide fans over until her next album was released, Braxton contributed "Let It Flow" to the Whitney Houston-centered soundtrack of Waiting to Exhale in 1995. Again working heavily with L.A. Reid and Babyface, Braxton released her second album, Secrets, in the summer of 1996, and predictably, it was another enormous hit. The first single, "You're Makin' Me High," was Braxton's most overtly sexual yet, and it became her biggest pop hit to date. However, its success was soon eclipsed by the follow-up single, the Diane Warren-penned ballad "Un-break My Heart." The song was an inescapable juggernaut, spending an amazing 11 weeks on top of the pop chart (and even longer on the adult contemporary chart). Further singles "I Don't Want To" and "How Could an Angel Break My Heart" weren't quite as successful (hardly an indictment), but that didn't really matter; by then Secrets was already her second straight multi-platinum hit. In 1997, she picked up Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal and Best Female R&B Vocal (for "Un-break My Heart" and "You're Makin' Me High," respectively).

Toward the end of 1997, Braxton filed a lawsuit against LaFace Records, attempting to gain release from a contract she felt was no longer fair or commensurate with her status. When LaFace countersued, Braxton filed for bankruptcy, a move that shocked many fans (who wondered how that could be possible, given her massive sales figures) but actually afforded her protection from further legal action. She spent most of 1998 in legal limbo and passed the time by signing on to portray Belle in the Broadway production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Braxton and LaFace finally reached a settlement in early 1999, and the singer soon began work on her third album. The Heat was released in the spring of 2000, and entered the Billboard 200 at number two, matching the highest position held by Secrets. The lead single "He Wasn't Man Enough" was a Top Ten hit and an R&B/hip-hop chart-topper. A brisk seller out of the box, The Heat eventually cooled off around the two-million mark and led to yet another Grammy win for Best Female R&B Vocal ("He Wasn't Man Enough").

Following the release of the holiday album Snowflakes, Braxton appeared in the VH1 movie Play'd and recorded More Than a Woman. Released toward the end of 2002 with half of its songs co-written with sister Tamar, it broke Braxton's streak of Top Ten studio albums and prompted a temporary move to the Blackground label. Libra, supported with the singles "Please" and "That's the Way Love Works (Trippin')," started a new streak of Top Ten entries in 2005. In Europe, it was re-released the following year with the addition of the Il Divo collaboration "The Time of Our Lives," the official 2006 FIFA World Cup anthem. It was around this time that Braxton became the main performer at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Her show, Toni Braxton: Revealed, ran until April 2008, when she joined the cast of the competitive reality show Dancing with the Stars. After lasting five weeks before being voted off the show, Braxton completed Pulse, her first full-length for Atlantic. Issued in May 2010, it became her fifth Top Ten album.

Braxton further boosted her 2010s comeback profile by participating in another reality TV series, the long-running Braxton Family Values, which focused on her relationship with her mother and four sisters. Meanwhile, she reunited with Babyface to record the duets album Love, Marriage & Divorce. Released by Motown in 2014, it went to number four just before the duo starred in a Broadway production of After Midnight. Love, Marriage & Divorce won the Grammy Award in the category of Best R&B Album just months before Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir was published. The book detailed Braxton's triumphs, as well as her business and health struggles behind the scenes, and led to a similarly titled biographical television film.

Braxton's affiliation with the Def Jam label began in 2015 with her second-holiday recording, Braxton Family Christmas. Although lupus complications hampered Braxton's touring schedule, she worked on a new album and in 2017 accepted a Soul Train Legend Award. Sex & Cigarettes, a set dominated by aching ballads, arrived in 2018. It reached number 22 and led to a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album, while "Long as I Live," a Top 20 R&B/hip-hop single, was up for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance. The Top Ten R&B/hip-hop hit "Do It," featuring Missy Elliott, followed in 2020 as the first result of a new deal with Island Records. Spell My Name, on which she was also joined by H.E.R., arrived that August.

Achievements

• Braxton is a multi-award winning performer that has made history as the first black woman to be featured as Belle in the 1998 Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast. Braxton has sold over 67 million records worldwide, including 41 million albums. She is one of the highest-selling female R&B artists in history. Braxton has won multiple Grammy Awards.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Unbreak My Heart: A Memoir

    (In this heartfelt memoir, six-time Grammy Award-winning a...)

    2014

• movie

  • Every Day is Christmas

    (Inspired by the Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Caro...)

    2018
  • Play'd: A Hip Hop Story

    (An up-and-coming rapper (Rashaan Nall) adopts the gangste...)

    2002
  • Kingdom Come

    (A patriarch's funeral brings together a houseful of conte...)

    2001
  • Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart

    (This Lifetime Original Movie follows the singer's journey...)

    2016
  • Oogieloves: The Big Balloon Adventure

    (It's Schluufy's birthday, and the Oogieloves are throwing...)

    2012
  • Twist of Faith

    (Starring Toni Braxton and David Julian Hirsh. A single Ch...)

    2013

• music

  • Toni Braxton 1993
  • Secrets 1996
  • The Heat 2000
  • Snowflakes 2001
  • More than a Woman 2002
  • Libra 2005
  • Pulse 2010
  • Love, Marriage & Divorce 2014
  • Sex & Cigarettes 2018
  • Spell My Name 2020

• TV series

  • Braxton Family Values

    (The bond between the five Braxton sisters is fierce, and ...)

    2011

Religion

The daughter of a minister, Toni Braxton was raised mostly in the strict Apostolic faith. Braxton shared that her family was constantly searching for a spiritual connection, causing them to pursue a variety of religions throughout her childhood.

"When I was 7, my family became very religious," said Braxton, explaining that the family became Jehovah’s Witnesses and Catholics before settling into the United Methodist Church. "I asked my mom once what they were searching for and she just replied: ‘It was the ‘70s.’ The ‘70s were a very religious era. I think a lot of people were looking for the right path."

Politics

During the president’s 2012 campaign, Braxton was a Barack Obama supporter.

Views

Toni Braxton is an active gay rights supporter. Her songs were highly appreciated in the gay community. Talking about her gay fans, she said: "I love my boys because my boys help me be a better girl. My choreographer and my video director are gay, and they’ve been my best friends since I started in the industry. They’re my favorite part of the whole industry."

Since her son Diezel has been diagnosed with autism, she became a spokeswoman for Autism Speaks, she is also a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.

Quotations: "I know for works for me - those wonderful sad love songs."

"I can't record in the morning because I sound like Barry White."

"I'd lose my mind if I heard my kid call the nanny Mommy."

Personality

Toni Braxton shared in the interview: "I’m always trying to find balance. I do have misplaced anger, though. I need to learn to deal with frustration as and when it happens, not to let it all build up. But it’s good to know your flaws. I don’t trust people who don’t think there’s anything about themselves to work on. We’re all works in progress."

Interests

• cooking, fashion, shoes

• Politicians

  Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Music & Bands

  Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Prince

Connections

Braxton was married to musician Keri Lewis from 2001 to 2013. They have two sons together, Denim and Diezel.

Father:

Michael Conrad Braxton

Michael was the strict gas worker and clergyman that prohibited his kids from listening to secular music while they were in his house. The Braxton sisters began singing at his church while they were still really young but as expected, kids wanted to be adventurous and try other kinds of music. Michael eventually eased up a bit and allowed his children the freedom of gaining exposure from other singers and that was how music became a central part of his children’s life especially Toni, the Let It Flow crooner.

Evelyn caught him cheating and they both divorced in 2000 after 35 years of being married. There was nothing more scandalous as a pastor having an affair for nine years and to make it worse, he remarried within 30 days of his divorce from Evelyn. According to his daughters, he forgot about his first family after his second marriage and it still hurts when they think about it. Michael now lives as a retired father with his second wife in Baltimore and there is still some tension between him and his first family.

Mother:

Evelyn Braxton

When Evelyn was 13, she moved to Maryland to live with her aunt who had no child. It was there she met Michael and the lovers got married when she was only 18. In a few years, she had become the mother to six children and had to resort to life as a full-time mom.

While she stayed at home, Evelyn worked as a pastor and the very dedicated music coach of all her kids. She was her kids' manager for a while until their careers became well defined.

Brother:

Michael Conrad Braxton Jr.

Michael Jr. is the only son and second child in the Braxton family. Like the rest of his siblings, he is also a singer and songwriter who grew up singing in the church choir with his family.

Sister:

Traci Renee Braxton

She was the first one to encourage her sister to take the solo deal when Babyface and L.A. Reid wanted to sign only her. Traci is the most reserved of the Braxton brood though she is a singer and a TV personality. Because of her desire to settle down with her family, she still searches for her rightful place in the entertainment industry but loves her life as a motivational speaker. She champions awareness for societal and health challenges affecting kids and is involved with social work for children with disabilities.

Sister:

Towanda Chloe Braxton

She served as a personal assistant to her sister Toni for many years. Towanda is also a TV personality, singer, philanthropist, and founder of the Secret Squirrel, a training company for personal assistants.

Sister:

Trina Evette Braxton

Trina has grown from the younger singer into a multifaceted entertainer and businesswoman. She is often portrayed as the fun, full of energy lady but beneath her party self is the savvy career woman. Trina owns a fashion boutique in her Atlanta, Georgia.

Sister:

Tamar Estine Braxton

She is the youngest and most outspoken of the girl crew and is also in the showbiz line like the rest of her siblings. She was upset when her sister came to them with the news about her being offered an opportunity to be a solo artist. She did not want Toni to accept the deal but the sexy Braxton eventually did.

It was also Tamar who had the idea of them starting their reality TV series, Toni did not get on board initially but eventually agreed and they are better off today for it.

ex-spouse:

Keri Lewis

Keri is the singer known for his time as a member of the Mint Condition R & B group. He met the multi-time Grammy winner in 1997 while he opened for her at her first solo tour and their chemistry built on from there. While the keyboardist was married to Braxton, he left the R&B band so he could help his wife produce music.

In 2013, after becoming parents to two sons, Toni and Keri separated for reasons they kept personal. It was an amicable split and both ex-lovers decided to continue raising their kids together.

Son:

Denim Cole Braxton-Lewis

Denim Cole Braxton-Lewis is the first son of Toni and is in his own right a celebrity. Denim has garnered a sizable social media presence and has over a thousand followers.

Son:

Diezel Ky Braxton-Lewis

When Diezel was nine months, the soul singer stated that she knew there was something different about her soon as he was not behaving as every other child should at his age. He was finally diagnosed with autism at the young age of three and Toni has since become inspired to actively participate in Autism centered organizations. As of today, she claims her son no longer shows signs of the disease stating that he could begin therapy early enough because he was diagnosed early.

Friend:

Prince Nelson

colleague:

Missy Elliott

Friend:

Chadwick Boseman

On her Instagram page, Braxton revealed that she had a strong connection with Boseman, and even used to sing one of her most famous songs over the phone to him because it was his favorite.

References

• Toni Braxton - Twitter
• Toni Braxton - Official Website