Toni Braxton

A successful, remarkably talented Grammy-winning R&B singer, Toni Braxton made the most of a four-year break between her second and third albums by taking on the role of Belle in the Broadway production of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," beginning her acting career. Sultry, shapely and strikingly attractive, this African-American daughter of a minister was a diminutive (5'2") woman with a great big voice. While a single released by The Braxtons (Toni and three of her four younger sisters) didn't go very far on the R&B charts in 1989, her performance caught the attention of legendary songwriters and producers Antonio 'L.A.' Reid and Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds, who signed the young vocalist to their LaFace Records, a subsidiary of Arista. Replacing Anita Baker, who was unable to fulfill her commitment, Braxton lent her talents to the "Boomerang" (1992) soundtrack, scoring a hit with the single "Love Shoulda Brought You Home." She followed up with a self-titled debut album chock full of lovelorn hits, including the sweetly sincere "You Mean the World to Me," the delightfully dramatic "Breathe Again" and the somewhat ironic "Just Another Sad Love Song." While Braxton was certainly no stranger to such formulaic sad love songs, her appearance on the scene was a breath of fresh air, using her husky and powerful voice to celebrate rather than overshadow her material.