Babyface

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Pushkin Industries

Music, Society & Culture

4.5 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2023

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds is a pillar of contemporary R&B. As a producer and songwriter, Babyface’s discography includes hits for powerhouse vocalists like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, and Stevie Wonder.

Although Babyface’s career is most often associated with pop hits, he started writing songs in the singer/songwriter tradition, pulling influence from James Taylor and The Beatles.

On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to Babyface about the childhood crushes he had that continue to inspire his songwriting today. He also plays a song he wrote in high school that he considers one of the best songs he's ever written. And he reveals how he was on the verge of making new music with Whitney Houston a month before she died.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Babyface songs HERE.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Pushkin
0:11.2	Kenny Babyface Edmonds is a pillar of R&B.
0:15.4	His discography is vast and varied and in my opinion he's one of the greatest songwriters
0:20.5	of all time.
0:22.0	And as a producer, he knows how to get the most natural vocal performances from the best
0:27.2	singers.
0:28.6	I'm talking powerhouse vocalists like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Ariana Grande,
0:35.2	and Stevie Wonder.
0:37.4	As a label owner, Babyface created the face records in the late 80s with famed record
0:41.3	exec LA Read.
0:43.2	Together they went on to release classic albums from Outcast, TLC, and Usher among others.
0:48.9	Although Babyface's career is most often associated with pop and R&B hits, he's sort of writing
0:53.8	songs in the singer's songwatter tradition.
0:56.7	Falling from influences as surprising as James Taylor in The Beatles.
1:01.7	He taught himself guitar and sixth grade and started writing songs about young love and
1:06.2	heartbreak.
1:08.0	Many of those experiences served as inspiration for the hundreds of songs he's written since.
1:14.6	On today's episode, I talked to Babyface about those early childhood memories and he
1:19.0	plays a song he wrote in high school that he considers to be the best song he's ever
1:23.4	written and it's never been released.
1:26.8	He also talks about how Bootsie Collins christened him Babyface and how his nickname made female
1:31.8	fans flock to him at the end of shows.
	...

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