The Music Icon That Convinced Toni Braxton To Not Retire From Music
If you grew up listening to '90s R&B, there is no doubt that megastar Toni Braxton was part of the soundtrack to your life. The "Another Sad Love Song" hitmaker's distinctive tone and powerful vocals set her apart from her peers and proved that there is only one Toni.
As of this writing, Braxton has released nine studio albums since 1993 and achieved six top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, two of which topped the charts. At the Grammy Awards, she has been nominated 14 times and taken home an impressive 7 golden trophies. Most recently, Braxton appeared on the sixth season of Fox's "The Masked Singer" as Pufferfish and stunned the panel — Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, and Nicole Scherzinger — with her shocking reveal.
Despite the massive global success, Braxton was willing to hang up her microphone at one point and never release any more albums. Luckily, the singing sensation was convinced by another music icon to continue her journey as a recording artist. Keep reading to find out who.
Prince told Toni Braxton it was 'too early' to retire
After dominating the R&B scene with her power ballads and love songs, Toni Braxton was willing to retire from music in 2013. In an interview with The Grio that same year, she explained why she nearly said goodbye. "For what I do I have to love it. I have to feel that excitement and it's gone," Braxton said. "I'm just not going to do any albums anymore; maybe touring occasionally here and there because I love performing, but not as much as I did in the past. But no new projects."
During a 2013 episode of "Braxton Family Values," Braxton told producer Babyface that she had no interest in making music and admitted she had nothing to sing about anymore. Fortunately, she was able to meet music legend Prince soon after who ended up convincing Braxton to not quit. "He taught me about preserving my music, my talent and to never compromise my integrity," she told NBC in 2016. "Prince was one of the artists that called me when I was about to retire and he said, 'Toni Braxton, you cannot retire. It's too early and you're gifted to even think this.'"
After returning to music, Braxton won her seventh Grammy Award for her "Love, Marriage & Divorce" collaboration album with Babyface. Her 2018 album "Sex & Cigarettes" also made noise and earned Braxton three more nominations.