Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds is a pillar of contemporary R&B. As a producer and songwriter, Babyface’s discography includes hits for powerhouse vocalists like Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, and Stevie Wonder.

Although Babyface’s career is most often associated with pop hits, he started writing songs in the singer/songwriter tradition, pulling influence from James Taylor and The Beatles.

On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to Babyface about the childhood crushes he had that continue to inspire his songwriting today. He also plays a song he wrote in high school that he considers one of the best songs he's ever written. And he reveals how he was on the verge of making new music with Whitney Houston a month before she died.

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ABOUT BROKEN RECORD
For generations of music lovers, the liner notes on albums were a central part of the way music was heard. You bought an album and it came with an accompanying narrative: a digression, an aside, a backstory—maybe even an invented history. We intuitively understood that great music required not just listening but conversation between the artist and the audience and the audience and the rest of the world.

Broken Record is a podcast that restarts those conversations—in a world without liner notes—for a new audience of music lovers.

Broken Record is hosted by Justin Richmond with interviews by producer Rick Rubin, writer Malcolm Gladwell, and former New York Times editor Bruce Headlam.

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Website: www.pushkin.fm/show/broken-record-with-rick-rubin-…