Babyface

Nicknamed 'Babyface' by funk superstar Bootsy Collins (Parlaiments, Funkadelics) while still a teen, Kenneth Edmonds has written songs for such recording artists as Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Aretha Franklin and Bobby Brown, among others. He wrote and produced Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" and produced Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You," both of which established records for the longest stay at Number 1 on the BILLBOARD charts. Although primarily known as the man behind the enormous success of others, Babyface is a solo artist who pushed his performing star a notch higher dueting with Madonna on her 1995 Top 10 hit "Take a Bow."

He copped his first feature credit for "Ghostbusters II" (1989) and contributed to "Boomerang," "The Bodyguard" (both 1992) and "Poetic Justice" (1993) prior to his tour-de-force effort on "Waiting to Exhale" (1995), writing or co-writing all but one track of the enormously popular soundtrack and producing it in its entirety. Babyface formed the film production company Edmonds Entertainment with his wife Tracey, making his debut as executive producer of the surprise hit "Soul Food" (1997) while his producer wife handled the day-to-day action on the Chicago set.