Tuesday morning, 13th July 1993 various music store employees across America were going about their normal routine, unpacking cd's on shelves and hanging up posters. Unbeknown to them one of the posters that they were hanging up of a 26 year old woman sporting a short boy-like haircut in a black leather jacket, white tank top and demin jeans was going to be centre stage at the Radio City Music Hall the following year accepting two Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female.
18 years ago to the day we were introduced to one Miss Toni Braxton. I'm not going to give you her whole life story, today we would like to celebrate an artist and an album (which is a classic in its own right) that has or had some relevance in our lives at some point or the other. In 1992 Toni was approached by Babyface to record a demo of "Love Shoulda Brought You Home", a song that was written for Anita Baker for the soundtrack for the film, Boomerang. Miss Baker was pregnant at the time and did not record the song but suggested that Toni should do so. The song was included on the soundtrack along with "Give U My Heart", a duet by Toni and Babyface.
A year after meeting with LaFace Records Toni's self-titled debut album, Toni Braxton was released. L.A Reid and Babyface, co-founders of LaFace Records, already worked on Whitney Houston's Bodyguard album in 1992, Boys II Men's End Of The Road and Mariah Carey's Music Box in 1993. This was a tough time to release an album when Whitney was Whitney and Mariah's career was in a steep incline. Toni brought a different dimension to the industry. She had a softer Anita Baker sound, which was fresh and needed in the industry at that time.
Toni sang about being in love, make-ups and break-ups and cheating best friends. This album spawned many hits including "Another Sad Love Song", "Breathe Again" "How Many Ways" and "Love Shoulda Brought You Home" She brought in that subtle sexiness that was needed back - then in her videos.
From her denim shorts in "How Many Ways" to her being in just a men's shirt in "Love Shoulda Brought You Home" a lot was left up to your imagination.
Whilst everyone else was singing about love, Toni took a different route on "Love Shoulda Brought You Home". Before Beyonce told us about the box to the left and Adele pining about how she could of had it all with her ex. Toni sang about a lover who decided not to come home last night, 18 years on and its still relevant today.
It's one of those albums that you put in your cd player and just press play without finding a reason to skip a track. How many albums that have been released in the past year or so would you be able to say the same about in 18 years?
oh she is one of my favourite artists of all time .....cant go a week without listening to her .
There was a time when Toni Braxton had everyone attention - remember bob cut ...
she had my attention too
she still got my attention :)