Year Released: 2003

Certification: uncertified (so far)

Label: LaFace

Guests: Loon; The Big Tymers


















Biography

Toni Braxton was born October 7, 1968, in Maryland and she grew up singing with her sisters and in the church choir. She is daughter of a preacher so Toni was raised without the popmusic, but Toni and her sisters used to watch soul train while their parents where out of the house. The result of watching Soul Train and that her mother has an opera background made Toni get in touch with her own musical talent. Toni began her recording career with her sisters, The Braxtons, who signed with Arista Records in 1990. The Braxton relesed one single called "The good life", unfortunatley it flopped. Arista let the girls audition for the newlwy formed record label LaFace records, which were leaded by the producers Babyface and L.A. Reid, who thought that their was something special about Toni and she was signed in november 1990. Toni's first appearance on the pop and R&B charts came with 2 tracks from the Boomerang soundtrack: "Love Shoulda Brought You Home" and a duet with Babyface, "Give U My Heart".

Toni's debut LP, "Toni Braxton" was released 1993 and let Toni stay on the charts for the rest of the year and into 1994. Toni hit the Top 3 with the songs "Another Sad Love Song" and "Breathe Again" followed by the 1994 hits, "Seven Whole Days", "You Mean The World To Me", "How Many Ways" and "I Belong To You".

Toni also won 2 Grammy awards in 1994, 3 American Music Awards and 2 Soul Train Music Awards. The album sold 8 million copies in the U.S.A and over 11million worldwide, the album also topped the album charts in 1994. In 1995, Toni won her 3rd Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Performance for "Breathe Again". Toni also recorded a track for the movie, Waiting To Exhale called "Let It Flow".

Toni's second album, "Secrets", was released in 1996 and gave Toni her first nr 1 pop hits: "You're Makin' Me High" and "Un-Break My Heart". Toni said this of the LP: "The motivation for this album was to include a little bit of everything. Our aim was to come up with material that would have a familiar 'feel' to the people who bought the first album without being musically redundant" The album also includes some help from Babyface, R. Kelly, TonyRich, and David Foster. Toni also was the co-executive producer of Secrets and co-wrote 2 songs including the hit "How Could An Angel Break My Heart"

Toni also made the Top 10 with "I Don't Want To" in 1997. Secrets has sold over 6 million copies in the U.S. Also in 1996 Toni won a Billboard Music Award for Best R&B Single for "You're Makin' Me High." At the 1997 Grammy Awards, Toni won 2 awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for "Un-Break My Heart" and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "You're Makin' Me High." In April, Toni was a model when she participated in the "Fashion Week" shows in New York and became a temporary model for the designs of Mark Bower. Next Toni wanted to get an acting career. In 1997, Toni was close to take a role in The Frankie Lymon Story but was unable to take the role because of scheduling problems.In December, 1997, Toni made a lawsuit against her label, Arista and LaFace Records.Toni claimed that she has fulfilled what her original 7-year contract with her label had required and she wished to be released from her contract. Arista, however, dont want Toni to go.

It was reported that Toni has received far less per album than most artists of her status and record-selling abilities. With only 2 album releases, Toni has sold over 15 million albums so far. Her original contract is said to have expired this past August. Toni has said of the lawsuit: "I can't talk about the suit, but I love those guys very much. It's just business."

At the 1998 American Music Awards Toni was nominated for 2 awards: Favorite Female Artist Rock/Pop and Favorite Female artist.

On Jan. 30th 1999, Toni filed for bankruptcy protection with liabilities totaling more than $1 million. The filing was result of recent disputes over her contract with Arista and LaFace Records. Toni However said in a interview with Oprah Winfrey that it was a 100% her fault. In the same Interview Toni also said that she is going to make a new album soon, and she will have more controll over her money in the future. Although, Toni never realesed a third album in 1998. Instead she decided to go to Broadway in New York to play the lead role as Belle in Disney´s "Beauty and the Beast". Her debut happend on september 9th. Early 1999 mtv reported the great news that the legal dispute with Toni's label had been settled and she was once again in the studio working on her third album.