As a singer, producer, and songwriter, Babyface was an inescapable presence in virtually every major facet of pop music during the ’90s. His own recordings helped rejuvenate the R&B tradition of the smooth, sensitive, urban crooner and made him a staple of urban contemporary radio. Yet their considerable success was eclipsed by his songwriting and production work for other artists, which linked him with some of the biggest stars and hit singles of the decade (and not just in the realm of R&B). You’d be hard pressed to name a ’90s hitmaker with a track record more consistently successful and versatile than Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds.Kenneth Edmonds was born April 10, 1959, in Indianapolis and began playing in local R/B bands as a teenager. He served a stint in Bootsy Collins’ backing unit (where he earned his nickname) and subsequently joined the funk outfit Manchild, which signed a record deal in 1977 and released three albums. After their breakup, Babyface and partner Antonio “L.A.” Reid formed an urban funk group called the Deele in the early ’80s, which scored a few sizable hits on the R&B charts. Babyface and Reid began producing and writing for other artists on the side, landing hits in Pebbles’ “Girlfriend” and the Whispers’ “Rock Steady”; following the Deele’s third album in 1988, the duo left to continue their outside activities full-time, co-founding the LaFace label in 1989. Further hits followed in Bobby Brown’s “Every Little Step,” Sheena Easton’s “The Lover in Me,” and Karyn White’s “The Way You Love Me” and “Superwoman,” all of which performed well on both the pop and R/B charts.

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