Unblock your ears for a minute and listen to these good reasons to go to see Toni Braxton in Dublin on Monday: 1) she's drop dead gorgeous; 2) she wears sexy, sometimes even somewhat revealing, clothes; 3) she's got a sultry, seductive voice; and 4) she's got a big, chartbusting single, Unbreak My Heart, which will surely get the whole Point singing along. Now, in the interests of balance, here's some reasons not to go to see Toni Braxton in Dublin next Monday: 1) her songs are a bit too smooth for indie-grunge ears; 2) she's won three Grammy Awards, the US music industry kudos for blandness and commerciality; 3) she's really a good girl underneath the sexpot image; and 4) there are no more tickets left for the gig.
Twenty-nine-year-old Braxton grew up in Severn, Maryland, with her four younger sisters and younger brother. Her parents were strict Methodists, and kept little Toni away from all that "secular" music which record-buyers love so much. Toni and her sisters started their career singing behind their father with the church choir, but when they got older they formed their own r'n'b vocal group, imaginatively named The Braxtons. The quartet came to the attention of producers L.A. Reid and Babyface, who decided they needed only one Braxton. Guess which one they picked. Toni's 1993 debut album, imaginatively-titled Toni Braxton, took the charts by storm, racking up sales of 10 million, and earning her those Grammies, along with three American Music awards and two Soul Train awards. Five hit singles were taken from the album, but these songs pale into insignificance against the all-conquering might of her monster hit, Unbreak My Heart, taken from her second album, Secrets.
On Monday, Toni will be joined onstage by her three sisters, Towanda, Trina and Tamar, who have released their own album, So Many Ways. If Toni's younger siblings can follow their big sister's success, then the charts may be overrun with Braxtons, and they'll have to run off a few dozen extra gongs at the Grammy factory.
Toni Braxton plays the Point on Monday at 8 p.m. The album is out now on BMG
