Babyface and 112

Born the fifth of six children, Edmonds began his musical excursions playing in local R&B bands around Indianapolis. During a stint in Bootsy Collins’ backing band, the singer earned the nickname “Babyface” for his childlike looks, however left soon after in 1977 to join the funk band Manchild who went on to release three albums together.

Around this time Edmonds met Antonio “L.A.” Reid and formed the urban funk outfit the Deele. The pair charted with a number of singles, however made more of a mark for their writing and producing for other artists with their label LaFace. The Deele split up in 1988 following the released of their third album, although continued to earn success with a string of hits with other artists including Bobby Brown’s “Every Little Step”, Sheena Easton’s “The Lover in Me” and Karyn White’s “The Way You Love Me”.

In an under-the-radar release, Edmonds issued his debut album “Lovers” in 1986, however it was his sophomore album “Tender Lover” where the singer’s solo success came to the fore. The album went double platinum and spawned the No. 1 single “It’s No Crime” and No. 2 single “Whip Appeal”. Edmonds subsequently worked and collaborated with some of the biggest artists around including Johnny Gill, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Aretha Franklin with his biggest chart success coming from Boyz II Men. Around this time Edmonds’ and Reid’s label LaFace had become synonymous with lucrative and up-and-coming artists such as OutKast, TLC and Usher.

With such esteem and critical acclaim Edmonds took a step back from his solo work in the early ‘90s, with his next album arriving in 1993 with the name “For the Cool in You” and proved an even bigger hit than “Tender Love”, going triple platinum and earning Babyface his first top-five pop hit with “When Can I see You Again” which also earned the singer his first performing Grammy for Best Male R&B vocal.

In the run-up to the new millennium Edmonds' success well and truly blossomed with his scoring and producing of the “Waiting to Exhale” soundtrack, his 1996 album “The Day”, and his production on Eric Clapton’s “Change the World”, which he won his third successive Grammy as Producer of the Year for.

With the success of “Waiting to Exhale” Edmond focussed his attention of films and created his own film production company with wife Tracey Edmonds, subsequently making their film production debut with “Soul Food” in 1997. Babyface’s next musical releases came in the form of the seasonal “Christmas with Babyface” and the compilation “A Collection of His Greatest Hits” – marking his move to Arista Records, where L.A. Reid was an executive.

Edmonds' subsequent releases and collaborations have included the albums “Face2Face” (2001) and “Grown & Sexy” (2005), as well as the soundtrack for the film “Josie & the Pussycats”, and work with the likes of Lil Wayne, Vanessa Willaims and Anthony Hamilton. All in all making Edmonds one of the most highly respected and flexible musicians and producers of the R&B genre.

The beginnings of the band 112 can be traced to the members meeting at high school. Daron Jones, Michael Keith & Reginald Finley sang together while Jones & Keith were in middle school & Finley was in high school. A close friend of Finley's, Aldon Lagon was recognised for his deep bass voice and added to the line up along with high tenor vocalist Marvin Scandrick who the boys sang with in the school chorus. They changed their name to 112 after a move to New York in 1996, before this they were performing at local events as Forte.

They recorded their debut album in 1996 and it was released in late August to moderate chart success in the US. It peaked at #37 on the US Billboard Charts and has now sold over two million copies in the States achieving double platinum certification. Their rise to fame really began in the following year when two of the singles from second album 'Room 112' charted within the top 20 of the US charts and 'Love Me' was certified as gold selling.

The band had the incredible opportunity to support Whitney Houston on the 'My Love Is Your Love Tour' in the summer of 1999 whilst promoting their first record, understandably their fan base grew substantially. The group's third albu, 'Part III' was released in 2001 and including the hit 'Peaches & Cream' which earned the group their first Grammy nomination in the Best R&B Group or Duo category. It received a lot of radio publicity ahead of the release and charted at #2 on the US chart, which still remains the band's highest chart placing to date. The band then got another fantastic deal supporting another renowned R & B vocalist, this time it was Janet Jackson on her U.S 'All for You' World Tour.

The band released two albums on Def Jam after a split with long term record label Bad Boy. In 2008 Michael Keith decided to leave 112 and go solo before reconciling with the group in 2010. The 'For The Fans' Tour which kicked off in the summer of 2012 and is still going to date, there are no signs of a new album release yet.