Toni Braxton Returns to Music Limelight With a #1 Album

Toni Braxton Returns to Music Limelight With a #1 Album

New Album 'Libra' Debuts as the #1 R&B Record and Top 5 on Top 200 Album Chart

NEW YORK, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Multiple platinum and Grammy winning superstar Toni Braxton is officially back and bigger than ever, with the #1 R&B record this week -- Libra. The Blackground/Universal release also lands in the Top 5 on The Billboard Top 200 Album Chart this week at #4. Libra, which is Braxton's sixth studio album -- hit stores on September 27th, features the hit song "Trippin." The hot single was the #2 most added song at the Urban Adult Radio format when it debuted at the end of September.

Toni's eagerly awaited new album was helmed by star producers such as Scott Storch and Vincent Herbert, with the highly regarded disc faithfully embodying the trademark Braxton soulfulness which has made the spirited vocalist a worldwide phenomenon.

The six-time Grammy winner was a guest this week on the popular Ellen Degeneres Show, returning to the limelight in recent weeks with a flurry of activity, including co-hosting duties for the Tenth Annual Soul Train Lady Of Soul Awards, as well as appearing with Tricia Yearwood on the Oxygen network custom concert special.

Toni Braxton first exploded on the music scene in 1993 with her multi- platinum, self-titled smash debut album. Toni Braxton won 3 Grammys, netting Toni the Best New Artist statue, and selling more than 10 million copies worldwide, propelling the elegant singer into the R&B and pop stratosphere. Her follow-up album, 1996's Secrets sold 12 million copies worldwide, garnered two Grammys, and established the husky-voiced songstress as one of the music world's most hypnotic vocal divas. Three more hit albums followed, placing her in the ranks of legendary female vocalists such as, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, and Whitney Houston among others.

Toni took a temporary hiatus from the limelight to enjoy motherhood (she has two sons with musician Keri Lewis) and to explore creative avenues outside of the recording arena. The versatile performer starred in the Broadway musical hit Aida in 2003, (in 1998 she starred as Belle in Broadway's Beauty And The Beast) but her own brush with a heart ailment (Pericarditis) while she was on stage, led the singer to take a break from most of her entertainment duties. Braxton, now fully recovered, has recently become a spokesperson for the American Heart Association, joining their efforts to educate women about heart disease.

Excited about her return to recording and performing, the charismatic Toni is also preparing for her first full scale tour in many years in support of the acclaimed Libra.

Source: Universal Records

CONTACT: Wendy Washington, +1-212-373-0702, wendy.washington@umusic.com, or Shirronda Sweet, +1-212-841-8622, Shirronda.sweet@umusic.com, both of Universal Records

Web site: http://www.universalrecords.com/

------- Profile: Ent