Babyface 

One of the premier producers and songwriters in the music industry, as well as a talented musician in his own right, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds has found success not only in the world of R&B but also in film and television.

Kenneth Brian Edmonds, known popularly as Babyface, was born April 10, 1958 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Attending North Central High School, he was the fifth of six brothers. Edmonds was not a very outgoing child, and he used songwriting from an early age as a way to express himself.

In his professional career, Edmonds worked with a variety of groups including Bootsy Collins, Manchild, and The Deele. It was with this last group Edmonds teamed up with Antonio Reid, sometimes known as LA Reid. By 1988, however, Edmonds was anxious to find more commercial success.

It was around this time he began writing songs for music stars such as Bobby Brown, Paula Abdul, Karyn White, Pebbles, and more. For his efforts, he is credited with helping establish the new jack swing genre of music. By 1989, Edmonds and Reid had enough influence to found LaFace Records. They signed Toni Braxton and TLC to enormous commercial success. The two artists won his record company not only album sales but Grammy recognition as well. Edmonds went on to help form the band Az Yet, which met with success in the late 90s.

He is also credited for his phenomenal ability to produce, arrange, and/or write some of the largest successes in R&B to date. He produced and arranged the Whitney Houston hit “I’m Your Baby Tonight,” while he produced and wrote both “End of the Road” and “I’ll Make Love to You” by the hugely popular Boyz II Men. He’s also responsible for the Houston chart topper “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”

Amassing an impressive list of collaborations, Edmonds has worked with Mary J Blige, Katharine McPhee, Aretha Franklin, Fall Out Boy, Mariah Carey, Pink, Michael Jackson, Brandy, Sheena Easton, Celine Dion, Janet Jackson, En Vogue, Ashanti, and many more.

In addition to behind the scenes work, Edmonds is also credited with his own musical abilities. Most notably, he has provided backups and accompaniment for the likes of Madonna on the single “Take A Bow” as well as Eric Clapton for “Change the World.”

Confirming his indispensability to many of R&B’s finest, Edmonds was honored with the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year in 1995, 1996, and again in 1997.

Finding such unbridled success in the music industry, Edmonds naturally wanted to branch out. To that end, he developed the Edmonds Production Company with his former wife Tracey Edmonds. The production company was responsible for Soul Food with Vanessa Williams, Vivica A Fox, Nia Long, and Mekhi Phifer, Light It Up with Usher Raymond, Forest Whitaker, Rosario Dawson, Judd Nelson, and Sara Gilbert, and Josie and the Pussycats starring Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Alan Cumming, and Parker Posey. His name is also attached as executive producer to the series College Hill.

Others may know him for co-composing “The Power of the Dream” with David Foster and Linda Thompson, which was the song attached to the Summer Olympics in 1996.

For everything he’s done in the realm of music, film, and television, Edmonds had an Indianapolis stretch of highway named in his honor.

Despite the professional success, Edmonds has had less luck in his personal life. His two marriages ended in divorce, although the second to Tracey E Edmonds lasted from 1992 to 2007. They had two children together.