Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds has written or produced more than 200 Top 10 R&B hits and more than 50 Top 10 pop hits, including 16 that reached number one. He was born in Indianapolis on April 10, 1959, the fifth of six brothers; two of them, Melvin and Kevon, later sang in the R&B group After 7. He learned guitar and keyboards and began writing songs in high school. The nickname Babyface came from funk performer Bootsy Collins while Edmonds played in Collins's band. His early career included membership in the funk band Manchild and then the Deele, where he worked with Antonio "L.A." Reid.
With Reid, Edmonds built a songwriting and production partnership. Early hits included Pebbles's "Girlfriend" and the Whispers' "Rock Steady." The two left the Deele in 1988 and co-founded LaFace Records in 1989. The label's roster came to include Toni Braxton, TLC, Usher, who signed at fourteen, Pink and Outkast. More hits followed for other artists, including Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step."
His own recordings ran alongside that work. Lovers appeared in 1986. Tender Lover, released in 1989, went double platinum and produced the number one R&B hits "It's No Crime" and the title track, with "Whip Appeal" and "My Kinda Girl" reaching the Top 5. For the Cool in You went triple platinum in 1993 and included his Top 5 pop hit "When Can I See You." The 1995 Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, for which he wrote most of the songs as well as the score, yielded Whitney Houston's "Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)." His work with Boyz II Men produced "End of the Road," "I'll Make Love to You" and "Water Runs Dry," and "End of the Road" became one of the longest-running number one hits in pop chart history.
By the time the Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted him in 2017, Edmonds had won eleven Grammy Awards. His compositions have since been recorded by artists from Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson to Pink, Ariana Grande and Beyoncé, and he continued writing and producing into the 2010s, including a Grammy-winning album of duets with Toni Braxton.
