I’ve been a huge fan of Babyface since the winter of 1989/1990, although I'm guessing that not many people really know who he is. He wasn’t well known at all in the UK, and I only stumbled across his genius in a round about way. In my teen years, I used to DJ with a couple of friends at a bar in a holiday camp. The last half hour of the evening was dedicated to slow songs and slow dancing, a final opportunity for the drunken holiday-makers to try to seduce the other party-goers that had taken their fancy. One of the tracks that was popular at the time was "Superwoman" by Karyn White. If we played it once, we must have played it 100 times in the summer of 1989.
Once the summer was over, as part of my desire to "relive the good old summer nights", I picked up a copy of Karyn White’s debut album (eponymously titled "Karyn White"). I didn’t really care too much whether the rest of the album was good, but I wanted a version of "Superwoman" on tape. I was pleasantly surprised that the album was actually very good, and there was a duet with Babyface on there called "Love Saw It" which I loved. I also noticed that many of the other tracks were written by Babyface.
In January of 1990, I travelled to Florida for the first time. While I was there, I stumbled across a copy of Babyface's album "Tender Lover" in a record store. Based on the limited amount I knew about Babyface from the Karyn White album, I took a chance and spent a chunk of my spending money on the tape. I never looked back. I was an instant fan from the first few bars of "It's No Crime" playing through the tinny headphones of my larger-than-a-housebrick cheap Sony Walkman copy tape player.
Turns out that he is probably more famous for the songs he has written and produced for other artists than for his solo material. He has had literally hundreds of hits with songs that he wrote for almost every R&B artist you can name. Boyz II Men ("I'll Make Love To You" and "End Of The Road" anyone?), Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, TLC, Mariah Carey to name a few. Check out Babyface's Wikipedia page for an list of his top 10 hits (which of course doesn't include the huge amount of album tracks and international hits).
So, fast forward 20 years, July 2009. I *finally* got to see Babyface perform live two Saturdays ago, at the indigO2 venue in London. It was a long time coming, and *well* worth the wait.
He opened with "For The Cool In You", followed by "Never Keeping Secrets" and "Every Time I Close My Eyes". Then, since he was playing in London and wanted to honour a local, he covered Clapton's "Tears In Heaven", with the caveat that the band had only rehearsed it that day. Next was one of the highlights of the evening for me, a medley of songs he has written for others: "Two Occasions" (The Deele), Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel", "Every Little Step", "Rock Witcha" and "Roni", "Can We Talk" (Tevin Campbell), "My, My, My" (Johnny Gill), and finally Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love To You" and "End Of The Road".
At this point he played a tribute to Michael Jackson - "Gone Too Soon" – which I thought he did really well.
Next up were a couple of songs from that first "Tender Lover" CD - "Sunshine" and "Where Will You Go" – which I think was my other highlight of the evening, hearing two of the tracks that really got me into him in the first place. He finished up the main set with "Grown and Sexy", "Change The World", and what seemed to be one of the crowds' favourites "Whip Appeal".
He came back out for an encore of "When Can I See You Again", which was fantastic.
All in all a fantastic mix of songs from across his whole career, an amazing band that really brought the songs to life, and an amazing songwriter and vocalist who brought charisma and humour and great songs to the stage of the indigO2.
If you get the chance to see him live, take it. You'll love it.