Babyface (Kenneth Brian Edmonds) is a multi-platinum selling rnb singer, songwriter and record producer. He has written and produced for artists such as Whitney Houston, Karyn White, Johnny Gill, Vanessa Williams, Pebbles, Madonna and Boyz II Men, and has also worked on various film soundtracks in his successful career.
Kenneth Edmonds was born on April 10, 1958, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Marvin and Barbara Edmonds. Barbara was a pharmaceutical plant manager. Edmonds, who 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), attended North Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, and as a shy youth, wrote songs to express his emotions.
When he was in eighth grade, Edmonds’s father died of lung cancer, leaving his mother to raise her sons alone. At this stage, Edmonds became determined to have a career in music. Edmonds later played with funk performer Bootsy Collins, who tagged him “Babyface” because of his cute face while he was still a teen.
He also played in the groups Manchild (which had a 1976 hit “Especially for You” with band member Daryl Simmons), as he was a guitarist for the band. Then, as a keyboardist in the light-funk and R&B group The Deele (which also included drummer Antonio “L.A.” Reid, with whom he would later form a successful writing and producing partnership).
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