Celebrity baby boom: stars make music, movies and babies - a large number of African-American celebrity couples who are expecting children - Brief Article

Ebony, Dec, 1997 by Laura B. Randolph

TALK about a baby boom. Lately, the rich and famous have been busy making more than music, movies and money. The list of celebrities who recently welcomed a new baby into their homes and their hearts reads like a who's who in the sports, music and acting worlds. And whether they are first-time parents or receiving their second, third or fourth visit from the stork, each and every one is singing the praises of parenthood.

Superstar singer/songwriter/producer Kenneth (Babyface) Edmonds, for example, was so overjoyed by the birth of his 1-year old son, Brandon, he named his recording studio after him. The nine-time Grammy Award winner and first-time father also wrote his hit song, "The Day (That You Gave Me A Son)," for little Brandon and his mother, Edmondst wife, Tracey.

The couple, who run the TV and movie production company Edmonds Entertainment together, say that no matter how busy their schedules become, Brandon is their first priority.

"When I get home, I try to turn off the office thing and spend time playing with the baby and hoping he's going to stay awake for a couple more hours," says Tracey, who co-produced the film Soul Food with her husband. The couple is enjoying parenthood so much, in fact, Babyface has said they hope to give Brandon a little sister in the not-too-distant future.

Like Babyface and Tracey, Women's National Basketball Association star player Sheryl Swoopes-Jackson, a former college player of the year; and her husband say their infant son is their No. 1 priority. "He's such a blessing," Swoopes-Jackson says of 5-month-old Jordan Eric, who she named for her friend, Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, and her husband, Eric Jackson. "I thought when we won the national championship in college that it didn't get any better than that. Then we won the gold medal, and it was like icing on the cake. But nothing can be better than this."

Except, maybe, the fact that, thanks to her husband, Swoopes-Jackson doesn't have to leave Jordan at home when she travels on road trips. "Eric brings him to all the games, and just knowing his father is there with him--and knowing he's getting the best care and I have my family with me--means everything," says Swoopes-Jackson, who made her WNBA debut with the world champion Houston Comets just six weeks after Jordan was born.

And just what did Michael Jordan say when Swoopes-Jackson told him she was going to name her son after him? Swoopes-Jackson laughs. "He said it would be great," she says, "as long as he had a good jump shot." No problem, Swoopes-Jackson told him. "I said, `Shoot, he's going to be better than you ever were.'"

Like Swoopes-Jackson, actress Vanessa Williams recently became a first-time mom. On March 5, she and her husband, Andre Wiseman, became the proud parents of a little boy, Omar Tafari, who made his appearance in an unexpected caesarean birth, weighing 8 pounds and 10 ounces. "He is such a blessing; I feel like I won the lottery," say Williams who, just a few weeks after her son's birth, gave her agents a copy of his schedule to ensure that they would not send her out on any auditions that would conflict with Omar's daily activities. "He has completely changed my priorities," she says. "For the first time, I'm not `jonesing' for a job or comparing my career to that of anyone else's. Every day I see my baby, I know this is the service; this is what life is all about."

Just a month before Omar was born, Michael Jackson stunned the world when he announced last November that Debbie Rowe, a nurse for one of his doctors, was six months pregnant with his child. The couple wed later that month and on February 13, Rowe gave birth to a baby boy. "Words can't describe how I feel," Jackson said of becoming a father for the first time. "I have been blessed beyond comprehension, and I will work tirelessly at being the best father that I can possibly be."

The baby, who weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces at birth, is named Prince Michael Jackson Junior--a tribute, Jackson has said, to the men in his family. "My grandfather and great-grandfather were both named Prince," Jackson says, "so we have carried on the [family] tradition and now we have a third Prince in the family."

Jackson isn't the only recording star with a new addition to the family. Eleven months ago, Chante Moore and Kadeem Hardison made room in their hearts for their new daughter, Sophia Milan, while Nona Gaye gave birth to a son, 5-month-old Nolan, in June. Two months later, The Fugees' Lauryn Hill became the proud mother of a baby boy, Zion David, who made his appearance on August 3, weighing 6 pounds and 11 ounces.

Other celebrities who recently added a new branch to their family tree include recording star Sade (she recently gave birth to a baby girl), boxer Mike Tyson and his wife, Dr. Monica Turner (who gave birth to their first son in August), director Spike Lee and his wife, Attorney Tonya Lewis Lee (the couple welcomed their second child, a son, Jackson, in June) and actress Regina King and husband Ian Alexander (who celebrated the birth of their son, Ian Alexander II, on January 19.) Hangin' with Mr. Cooper star Holly Robinson Peete and her husband, NFL quarterback Rodney Peete, became parents on October 19 with the birth of their twins, Rodney Jackson Peete and Ryan Elizabeth Peete.