Table of Biography
Babyface is an American singer, songwriter, as well as record producer. George Stephanopoulos has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career and has won 11 Grammy Awards. Likewise, he ranked number 20 on NME’s 50 of The Greatest Producers Ever list.
Early Life and Childhood
Babyface is 64 years old. His birth name is Kenneth Brian Edmonds. He was born on April 10, 1959, in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father’s name is Marvin and his mother’s name is Barbara Edmonds. His mother was a production operator at a pharmaceutical plant. Likewise, he is the fifth of six brothers (including future After 7 band members Melvin and Kevon Edmonds, the latter of whom went on to have a modestly successful solo career).
Moreover, moving toward his educational background, he attended North Central High School in Indianapolis. As a shy youth, he wrote songs to express his emotions. When he was in eighth grade, his father died of lung cancer, leaving his mother to raise her sons alone. At this stage, he became determined to have a career in music.
Caption: Babyface on his childhood photo (Source: Instagram)
Babyface – Net Worth 2024
Speaking on Babyface’s earnings, he is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Indianapolis. Likewise, he has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career. As of 2023, his net worth is estimated to be 200 Million dollars.
Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds revealed he along with his family tested positive for coronavirus. However, they are now doing much better. The Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and producer also shared the news Friday on Instagram as he celebrated his 62nd birthday.
He has urged fans to “stay home, stay safe.” Likewise, he has even said he’s back to “full health” and will be engaging himself in an Instagram Live concert on Saturday, April 18, with fellow chart-topping producers, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland, and Teddy Riley.
Similarly, he explained it as a “Celebration of Black Music Excellence,” and said it will include a “Teddy vs. Babyface” performance. On April 11, 2020, he announced he and his family have recovered from the coronavirus.
Professional Life
Music career
Talking about his musical professional life, he played with funk performer Bootsy Collins, who tagged him “Babyface” because of his youthful look. He has performed in the group Manchild as a guitarist. It had a 1977 hit “Especially for You” with band member Daryl Simmons. In 1982, he played with the funk band Redd Hott produced by Geoge Kerr.
Likewise, he performed keyboards in the light-funk and R&B group the Deele. It also included drummer Antonio “L.A.” Reid, with whom he would later form a successful writing and producing partnership. One of his first major works as a songwriter for outside artists came when he wrote the tune “Slow Jam” for the R&B band Midnight Star in 1983. He remained in the Deele until 1988 when both he and Reid left the group.
Further, his album Playlist consists of eight cover songs and two original released on September 18, 2007. It was his first album on the newly re-launched Mercury Records label. He released a Grammy Award-winning duet album with Toni Braxton titled Love, Marriage & Divorce on Motown Records on February 4, 2014.
Renowned Producer And Writer
Throughout the late 1980s, he maintained the strong partnership that he had with Reid. This stepped ahead to write and produce songs for the likes of Michael Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Sheena Easton.
It was also during this period when he and his partner welcomed new artists to their newly established record label. Toni Braxton, Usher, and TLC were some of the early members who gained success while working with LaFace Records at the very beginning.
TLC’s highly successful second album CrazySexyCool credits him for the writing. At the time, it went along to become the all-time bestselling album. The success of TLC also made it a huge success for him as a songwriter and producer.
Additionally, the TLC group thrived as it sold over sixty million albums globally with the help that it offered. Similarly, Toni Braxton even experienced tremendous success under the direction of Babyface. He further got credits for successful albums such as Toni Braxton – 1993 and Secrets – 1996. In America alone, two albums sold over 10 million copies, which was a tremendous success in his career.
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He contributed about two years in the studio with Ashanti to produce her album The Declaration (2008). Moreover, he worked on the Lil Wayne album Tha Carter III (2008), on the Kanye West-produced “Comfortable”. He has even worked with R&B singer Monica for her sixth studio album Still Standing (2010).
In 2013, he worked as a producer for Ariana Grande’s debut album Yours Truly, producing the majority of her songs, including her second single, “Baby I”. In September 2014, he collaborated with Barbra Streisand on her album Partners, producing a duet on the track “Evergreen” and background vocals for other album tracks.
He has also collaborated with Foxes on her second album, All I Need (2016), producing and co-writing “Scar”. In July 2016, he along with Bruce Roberts and Carole Bayer Sager supported writing the song “Stronger Together” sung by Jessica Sanchez. The song was performed after Hillary Clinton’s speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. The song became one of the top trending songs on Shazam that week. It is widely perceived as positive by the listeners and received praise from celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian.
Caption: Babyface was captured performing with guitar on the show (Source: Walk)
Acting career and film producing
In 1994, he made an appearance and performed on an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Mr. Walsh Goes to Washington (Part 2)”.
In the mid-1990s, he and his then-wife Tracey Edmonds extended into the business of motion pictures. The company produced films such as Soul Food (1997), Josie and the Pussycats (2001), and also the soundtrack for the film The Prince of Egypt (1998) upon setting up Edmonds Entertainment Group. It also included contributions from various artists, including Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. More, they even executive produced the BET reality series College Hill (2004-2009). He also worked with David Foster to produce “The Power of the Dream”, the official song of the 1996 Summer Olympics, performed by superstar Céline Dion.
He has also participated as a duet partner on the Fox reality show Celebrity Duets (2006). Wesley Jonathan portrayed him in the 2015 Lifetime biopic Whitney and actor Gavin Houston portrayed him in the Lifetime biopic based on Toni Braxton entitled Un-Break My Heart. It premiered on the network in early 2016.
On August 30, 2016, he became one of the celebrities who will compete in season 23 of Dancing with the Stars. He also partnered with professional dancer Allison Holker. He and Holker got eliminated in the fourth week of the competition and ended in 11th place along with Vanilla Ice and Witney Carson.
Accolades
He has earned lots of awards through his tremendous contribution to the entertainment industry. On August 30, 2006, he was honored as a BMI Icon at the 6th annual BMI Urban Awards. Throughout his career, he has won the BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year trophy seven times and a total of 51 BMI Awards, which holds Song of the Year for his Toni Braxton hit, “Breath Again”, in 1994.
He earned the honor of the 2,508th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 10, 2013. The star gained a position at 6270 Hollywood Boulevard. On October 18, 2018, he earned an honorary doctorate from Indiana University Bloomington in recognition of his illustrious music career. Further, he has won 11 Grammy awards and was additionally nominated 39 times for the Grammy Award.
Personal Life
Speaking on Babyface he is a married man. He has married thrice in his life. He first married Denise during his young adult years. In 1990, he met Tracey Edmonds when she auditioned for the music video for his song “Whip Appeal”. The duo married each other on September 5, 1992. They have two sons together, Brandon and Dylan.
On January 7, 2005, her wife Tracey filed for divorce in Los Angeles County Superior Court, stating irreconcilable differences. In October 2005, he and Tracey declared that they were ending their marriage of thirteen years.
In 2007, he began dating his backup dancer Nicole “Niko” Pantenburg. She is the former backup dancer for and personal friend of Janet Jackson. The duo has a daughter born in 2008. Finally, the pair married on May 17, 2014.
Caption: Babyface posing along with his wife attending an event (Source: Us Weekly)
Furthermore, he has made a tremendous journey to the entertainment industry without any kind of scratch on his personal as well as professional life linked with controversy.
Body Measurements
He has a good personality with a brown skin tone. He stands at a height of 5 feet 7 inches (1.75m). Likewise, he has a pair of dark brown eyes with black hair color. Further, there is information regarding her other body measurements.
Babyface – Social Media
Likewise, he has social media accounts on different platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. He has gained more than 1.83 million on his Facebook account, and 120K followers on his @KennyEdmonds Twitter account. On his Instagram handle, he goes by @babyface with over 1.2 million fan followers.