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Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American R&B singer-songwriter, pianist, record producer, actress, television personality, and philanthropist. Rising to fame in the beginning of the 1990s, Braxton quickly established herself as an R&B icon and became one of the best-selling female artists of the 1990s decade, garnering her honorific titles such as the "Queen of R&B" and being recognized as one of the most outstanding voices of this generation. Her self-titled debut studio album was released in 1993. It sold over 10 million copies worldwide, spawning such hits as "Another Sad Love Song" and "Breathe Again" and earning Braxton three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist. Released in 1996, her second album, ''Secrets'', continued her acclaim and mega success, selling over 15 million copies globally. The album spawned the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 No. 1 hits "You're Makin' Me High" and "Un-Break My Heart", which became her signature song and the second top-selling single of all time by a female artist. Braxton won two Grammy Awards for ''Secrets''. In 2000, her third album, ''The Heat'', was released. It sold over 4 million copies and included the hit single "He Wasn't Man Enough", for which Braxton won a Grammy Award. She then released three more studio albums – ''More Than A Woman'' (2002), ''Libra'' (2005) and ''Pulse'' (2010), experiencing personal and label conflicts in between these releases. In 2014, Braxton and long-time collaborator Babyface released a duet album entitled ''Love, Marriage & Divorce'', which earned the duo a Grammy Award in early 2015. Throughout her career, Braxton has sold over 67 million records, including 41 million albums, worldwide. She has won seven Grammy Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards and several other awards. Aside from her success in music, Braxton has become a television executive producer and personality, being involved in the 7th season of the reality show ''Dancing with the Stars'' and in a reality series entitled ''Braxton Family Values'', where Braxton is Executive Producer and star since 2011 on WE tv. Braxton is also an Executive Producer of the spin-off show, starring her younger sister, Tamar-The Tamar & Vince show on WE tv. On September 18, 2011, Braxton was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. ==Early life== Braxton was born in Severn, Maryland. Her father, Michael Conrad Braxton, Sr., was a Methodist clergyman and power company worker, and her mother, Evelyn Jackson, a native of South Carolina, was a former opera singer and cosmetologist, as well as a pastor. Braxton's maternal grandfather was also a pastor. Braxton is the eldest of six siblings. She has a younger brother Michael, Jr. (born in 1968) and four younger sisters Traci (born in 1971), Towanda (born in 1973), Trina (born in 1974), and Tamar (born in 1977). They were raised in a strict religious household, and Braxton's first performing experience was singing in her church choir.〔 Braxton attended Bowie State University to obtain a teaching degree, but decided to sing professionally after she was discovered by William E. Pettaway, Jr., who reportedly heard her singing to herself while pumping gas. On her appearance May 24, 2014 broadcast of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, she stated that she was not singing to herself at the gas station. Pettaway, working as an attendant at the Annapolis service station where she was refueling, recognized her from local performances and introduced himself, saying he wanted to produce her. Though skeptical, Braxton decided to, in her words, "take a chance" and accepted. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Toni Braxton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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