As of 2024, Toni Braxton’s net worth is estimated to be between $10 – $15 million USD.
Toni Michele Braxton is an American R&B singer, songwriter and entertainer/TV personality. With sales exceeding 70 million albums globally and multiple grammy awards, she ranks among the most successful female musicians of all time.
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Braxton was born on October 7, 1967 in Severn, Maryland. Her dad, Michael Conrad Braxton Sr., was employed as a Methodist clergyman and worked for a power company. Her mom, Evelyn Jackson, had a past career as an opera singer and cosmetologist. Additionally, she was a pastor, just like Braxton’s maternal grandfather.
Braxton enrolled at Bowie State University with the aim of acquiring a degree in teaching. However, her career path took a different turn when she caught the attention of William E. Pettaway Jr., who helped her launch her musical career.
While refueling at an Annapolis service station, Pettaway, who recognized Braxton from her local performances, approached her and expressed his desire to produce her. Though uncertain, Braxton chose to embrace the opportunity and take a leap of faith by accepting the offer.
In the late 1980s, Braxton and her four siblings formed a group called The Braxtons and were later signed by Arista Records in 1989. Their debut track “Good Life” hit the shelves in 1990 but didn’t achieve much success. However, it caught the interest of Antonio “L.A.” Reid, a record executive, and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, a record producer.
Not long afterwards, Reid and Edmonds enlisted Braxton to record a couple of songs for the soundtrack of Eddie Murphy’s movie Boomerang. Subsequently, she signed with their Arista-associated label, LaFace Records, and promptly commenced work on her first solo album.
Braxton achieved her greatest success thus far in her career with the release of her second album, Secrets, in the late 90s. The standout track “Un-Break My Heart,” written and composed by Diane Warren, became a massive hit.
It dominated the charts, staying at number one on the Hot 100 for an impressive eleven weeks and achieving top five status worldwide. Braxton’s powerful vocals on the song earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Braxton has starred in two Disney productions on Broadway: Beauty and the Beast, and Aida. Her first appearance was as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, starting in September of 1998. While performing in the musical, a new song was added to the production called “A Change in Me,” which was written and composed by Alan Menken exclusively for Braxton.
She made history as the first and only black woman to take on the role of Belle in a Broadway production. This also marked a significant milestone as she became the first black woman to star in a Disney musical on Broadway.
Braxton ventured into the world of film acting in 2001 when she appeared in the comedic movie Kingdom Come. The film featured a talented cast including LL Cool J, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Although it didn’t achieve blockbuster status, it still managed to generate a respectable $23.4 million globally. She later partnered with WE tv to star in a reality show titled Braxton Family Values. The show, which premiered in April 2011, follows the lives of Braxton and her sisters Tamar, Traci, Towanda and Trina, along with their mother Evelyn.
It was well-received by critics, who considered it an addictive indulgence. The show’s success led to multiple seasons and spin-off series.
Quotes from the sensational singer and songwriter can be found below:
“2020 has been… a b****. It has not been a year to smile about. It’s been a sad year. It’s been labored. I cannot deny it. What I want to take away from this year is family awareness, friend awareness, life awareness, how precious it is and how important it is. And I don’t know if there’s anything I can take away from it right now, but I often tell myself weekly that I have to remember to be happy and be grateful, and thankful for what we have. And find that the best thing in life that you can have is family and health. If you have great health, you can survive it. It’s better if you have great health and family with you and support. So, 2020, I’m looking forward to 2021. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Although becoming a singer was my ‘Plan A’ (after first hearing Whitney Houston when I was 17), I started off with ‘Plan B’ by going to the teacher training college that my dad went to. It was a slow coming of age.”
“As I’ve gotten a little older, I’ve learned to live in the now and just enjoy it. I’m really proud of the body of work that I have so I don’t really have any regrets on that. Once you’re older in your career, you get confidence that allows you to sustain and be okay in your art.”
“Being creative is great.”
“Being in this business almost 30 years and still being relevant, and still being able to do what I love doing, and to know that people connect with me through my work…it’s a wonderful feeling. I feel blessed.”
“God picked me to do this, because I love it – love it so much, and I’m so appreciative of it. So I feel really blessed and fortunate.”
“I always felt this need to do my best immediately.”
“I know what works for me: those wonderful sad love songs.”
“I learned that I had to believe in myself and not just to be comfortable with the opinions of others. I’m just more in control; I finalize everything.”
“I take an active role in my imaging and how I look. I like to take risks on fashion. I kinda go left sometimes, so you can get a taste of my personality.”
“I think you always have to pay it forward.”
“I want my art to say that I’m a risk-taker, a trendsetter and a real talent.”
“If I’m uncomfortable, you’d never know.”
“I’ll probably be 80 years old and still performing. Music is like fashion; it changes. But some things will always be the same.”
“I’m a businesswoman who’s serious about her money. I want an empire.”
“I’m just going to do music that I love. I’m going to write songs that inspire me. And, of course, I love writing and singing about sad love songs.”
“I’m not a diva. I’m a tadpole trying to be a frog.”
“I’m very lucky. Motherhood is my favorite thing in the world. I love being a mother. I cope because my family helps me a lot.”
“In a broken marriage, it can be challenging and tough to get that work-life balance. I love performing, but I also love being a mom, and I hate having to choose between them.”
“It’s the best feeling to know that you’re still inspiring people. I love performing, I love writing, I love singing. But you never think that others love it as much as you do, and it makes me feel like they appreciate my work.”
“I’ve learned now to be honest with myself first. I always try to be honest with the music that I’m coming out with, while also being sure to move with the times.”
“Like Scarlett O’Hara, I won’t be broke again.”
“Music is how I vent when I’m sad or how I laugh when I’m happy. I always try to narrate a story through my music, especially if I’m singing about heartbreak. I want my listeners to live vicariously through me when they hear my music.”
“My career is, by far, the most important thing to me. It’s my passion.”
“My fault is I’m too forgiving too soon. Forgiveness is part of the healing process, but sometimes I can forgive too soon. I’m just beginning to recognize it. I’ve learned that without someone to speak to, you can withdraw to a place it’s hard to come back from.”
“My goal is to be a centennial; I would like to be proud of myself.”
“My lack of knowledge about the business side of the industry…as an artist, I just wanted to sing and let my art be out there, but it’s a journey that you have to take by yourself, and thankfully along the way it got better.”
“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.”
“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am, I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.”
“Our circumstances may be different, but the emotions that come with being human are what connect us all.”
“Performing live is the greatest high in the world. That’s why I do what I do.”
“Sometimes you forget to be happy because in a career with so many ups and downs, you can forget to be grateful for the things you have. Sometimes you concentrate on, ‘Well, I don’t have this; I don’t have that.’ But look what I do have! Look what I’ve been blessed with, and look how fortunate I’ve been. You have to remind yourself, and I am just…all I can say is: thank you. Thank you. It’s good.”
“The natural state of motherhood is unselfishness. When you become a mother, you are no longer the center of your own universe. You relinquish that position to your children.”
“The point may not be to make sense of the most difficult situations. It could be that we’re here to learn how to breathe through them.”
“To do what you love can sometimes be stressful. I’ve always tried to be positive. There’s a lot going on.”
“When you take high risks, the rewards are higher. So sometimes I’ll gamble just to see what happens. If it doesn’t work, I know I can’t do that.”
“You don’t want a whole bunch of ‘yes people’ around you.”
“You lose the arrogance you need to be successful, but you need that arrogance, because the second someone sees that side of you and chips at it, it’s over.”