The Rise and Fall and Rise of Toni Braxton - Interview

Ebony, Dec, 2000 by Joy Bennett Kinnon

Singer triumphs over temperament, bankruptcy and disastrous love affairs

If you can't stand the heat, stay out of Toni Braxton's kitchen, for she has been forged in the fires of bankruptcy, bad decisions and broken romances and has come out on top in entertainment, romance and finance.

In 1998 she was in superstar "lost and found," and people were saying that we had heard the last of Toni Braxton. Today, two years later, her first CD in four years, The Heat, has already gone multi-platinum, her love life with Keri Lewis of the group Mint Condition is cruising toward the altar, she has signed a $20 million-plus contract with her record label and she is set to make her feature film debut next year in Kingdom Come. Even at the height of her new pinnacle, there was an echo of the old problems of the old Braxton: She disappeared from public view and was hospitalized, she says, for removal of breast implants due to excessive scar tissue. Open, up-front and in control, she told EBONY in October she will rest for a while and then make a decision on her next step.

The new Braxton took all this in stride, for even the critical reports concede that she is back on top and that the roller-coaster ride from the zenith of fame to the depths of bankruptcy and back to the top sounds almost like the beauty-and-beast fairy tale she performed on Broadway.

The roller-coaster ride began at Bowie State University where the former choir singer was studying to become a teacher and where L.A. Reid and Babyface signed her as the first female artist on their then-newly formed LaFace Records in 1992. Within a year, her sultry ballads and instantly recognizable vocal style propelled her to the pinnacle of pop superstardom. After selling more than 17 million albums from her first two CDs, she received five Grammy Awards and every other accolade given to a recording artist. But after a critically acclaimed international tour with saxophonist Kenny G in 1997, the star filed for bankruptcy the next year. In one year Braxton plunged further south than Jennifer Lopez's neckline. How did it happen?

Although some critics say that Braxton's erratic behavior and penchant for breaking appointments got her into trouble, others say her expensive taste (600-thread-count bedsheets and jewelry from Cartier and Tiffany & Co.) was the culprit.

Braxton disagrees. It's the "business" part of show business, she says, that people don't understand. "It's my life, and I have to take responsibility for it. People don't understand this business, a lot of my personal money went into tours," she adds. "You never get out of the red. Every lightbulb, costume, band member, hotel, gas for the tour bus, airplane ticket--everybody has to be paid, and the artist has to pay them. In this business, the product--the artist--pays for everything, and then [we] get what's left over."

It didn't help that Braxton was unhappy with her initial contract arrangement. Although she was now selling millions of records, she felt unfairly compensated. "The music business is a sales-driven business," she says, "and I think that once an artist has proven herself and you sell lots of records, you should be compensated."

The short story is best summed up by Braxton who says succinctly, "Over the last three years I've been broke, dumped, and pimped."

In 1998, the five-time Grammy winner filed for Chapter 7 protection from a reported $3.9 million debt. All of her personal household possessions were tagged and marked for sale to pay off her creditors, including her prestigious awards. The humiliating and highly publicized bankruptcy taught her a lesson, she says. In the middle of the bankruptcy proceedings, Braxton was able to pursue her acting dreams when she was offered the role of "Belle" in Disney's musical, Beauty and the Beast, a role she played on Broadway from September through December 1998.

"I was so glad I did Beauty and the Beast," she says. "I always wanted to act, and if the bankruptcy thing hadn't happened, I wouldn't have started acting."

Braxton says it was a tense and stressful time performing on Broadway in New York and flying back to California for court appearances. "It was a hard road; I would be performing, and on my off days, I would be in court."

At one point, during the play's run, Braxton says fans sent her money. "I've been blessed with wonderful fans; thank God for them. When I was doing the play, they sent me bunches of checks, for $300, $400, and $1,000--thank God I didn't have to cash any of them, but they sent me these wonderful checks."

Through her "get-your-stuff-back attorneys," she says she was able to buy back most of her possessions. "Thank God, pretty much everything I wanted to get back I was able to get back, my Grammys and my Soul Train Awards, in particular," she says.

Today, she has changed her business strategy. She believes in herself. "I learned that I had to believe in myself and not just to be comfortable with the opinions of others," she says. "I'm just more in control; I dot the 1's and cross the T's ... I finalize everything," she says.