The sultry rhythm-and-blues artist Toni Braxton launched her recording career with Atlanta’s LaFace Records label in the early 1990s and has gone on to win numerous Grammy Awards and American Music Awards. Her best-known songs include “Breathe Again” (1993), “Un-Break My Heart” (1996), “You’re Makin’ Me High” (1996), and “He Wasn’t Man Enough” (2000).
Born in Severn, Maryland, on October 7, 1968, Toni Michele Braxton is the oldest of six children of Evelyn, who was trained to sing opera, and Michael Braxton, a Methodist minister. In 1990 Braxton was attending Bowie State University in Bowie, Maryland, and studying to become a music teacher when she and her four sisters, who all sang at their church, recorded a song, “The Good Life,” with Arista Records. Though the single went virtually unnoticed, it brought Braxton to the attention of producers Antonio “L. A.” Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds of Atlanta’s fledgling LaFace Records. Braxton signed with LaFace and moved to Atlanta in 1991. When her first two singles (“Give U My Heart” and “Love Shoulda Brought You Home” from the soundtrack of the 1992 movie Boomerang) quickly climbed the rhythm-and-blues charts, Braxton became an overnight sensation and was dubbed “the First Lady of LaFace.”
Braxton’s first full-length album, Toni Braxton, was released in 1993 and sold more than 9 million copies. Her second album, Secrets, appeared in 1996 and eventually sold even more copies than the first. Braxton filed for bankruptcy in January 1998 following disputes with Arista and LaFace over her contract (she had filed suit against LaFace in December 1997). But by early 1999 it was reported that Braxton had reconciled with the record company, and in 2000 LaFace released her third album, The Heat. Her fourth recording, More Than a Woman, appeared in 2002.
In the late 1990s Braxton went to New York to perform the role of Belle in a six-month run of Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Braxton was the first Black actor to play the character on Broadway, and a new song written for her was added to the show. She performed the title role of Aida on Broadway for four months in 2003.
Since then, Braxton has released four additional albums and appeared in various films and television shows, most notably as herself in Braxton Family Values (2011-2020). She also performed a year-and-a-half-long residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas.
LBTQ+ fans consider Braxton to be a gay icon, with songs like “Un-Break My Heart” and “He Wasn’t Man Enough” becoming gay anthems. Braxton is a supporter of gay rights and headlined the Pittsburgh Pride Festival in 2019.
Braxton married Keri Lewis, of the band Mint Condition, in April 2001. The couple divorced in 2013. They have two sons, Denim and Diezel. Following her son Diezel’s diagnosis with autism, Braxton became a celebrity spokesperson for the American non-profit Autism Speaks. Braxton has also been outspoken about her own diagnosis with the autoimmune disease, Lupus.
