Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds: With his roots in folk music

Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 03/11/2008 1:38 AM | People

Babyface

Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds is no rookie to the music world. Although many music fans may know just a few of the songs from his solo studio albums, he has written and produced a number of hit songs for other artists.

He has written and produced solid R & B music for Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, Boyz II Men and Toni Braxton, among others. But looking back on his musical roots, Babyface first fell in love with folk music.

"I grew up playing a guitar to the music of James Taylor and Bob Dylan," said Babyface at a press conference after his stellar performance at the Java Jazz Festival on Sunday.

His latest studio effort, Playlist, consists of songs from other musicians that he reveres, including Dan Fogelberg's "Longer" and Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight".

It's no coincidence that during his Sunday evening show at the Plenary Hall Jakarta, the gentle crooner opened the show by with the Dylan classic "Knockin' On Heaven's Door".

Babyface also flirted with jazz-fusion when he reached adulthood. Return To Forever, John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck and Al Di Meola are some of the artists that he tried to "learn" from.

"Fusion is all about getting as many notes as you can and playing as fast as you can," he said, adding that he did not want to be known as the guy who can only perform certain licks.

During his high school years, Babyface was particularly into soul and funk music.

"But when it came to writing songs, I had to simplify."

After all, the artist said that he did not like to be pigeon-holed in his craft. "To me it's all music."

Many of the songs that he has written for other performers are well known in Indonesia.

He has writing and producing credits on Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step", "Don't Be Cruel" and "Rock Wit'cha", Toni Braxton's "Breathe Again", Karyn White's "Superwoman" and Boyz II Men's "End Of The Road" and "Water Runs Dry". His most fruitful period was in the 1980s and 1990s.

Edmonds, who was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1958, got the nickname "Babyface" from funk bassist Bootsy Collins. They met when Edmonds was still in his teens.

He said that things started to take shape for him as an artist when he first recorded "Rock Steady" for the Whispers.

When asked about the feminine side in many of his songs, he answered that writing good music is all about listening to one's own feelings and the feelings of others.

"It's about paying attention more than anything. Emotion is emotion either way. A man's heart can be broken the same way as a woman's."

Babyface was arguably the highlight of the three-day Java Jazz Festival. Young and old fans packed the hall and showed their love for the artist.

"Indonesia seems to be a musical country," he commented about his show. Despite this, Babyface said he preferred performing at his own concert rather than a festival like Java Jazz as he could have ample time for a sound check.

Luckily, for his fans in Jakarta, Babyface performed many of his old-school tunes. He kept his performance interesting by performing the songs in intriguing rhythms. All the old songs came out fresh as new paint, as he took his own approach to presenting the tunes.

Babyface showed up on stage with a black suit, shirt, jeans and white blinkin' shoes.

In between songs, he interacted with the audience by telling his own story.

On the issue of digital downloading, he said performing artists should be happy that people want to download their songs.

"People have been making mix tapes forever. Downloading music will make the artists more popular than ever."

He told reporters that for future projects, he would go into the studio again with Toni Braxton and new artists.

Babyface has nine studio solo albums under his belt, including Grown and Sexy,Face2Face and A Closer Look. Despite his strong showmanship on stage, Babyface doesn't forget that everything started with his awe-inspiring studio work.

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