Babyface Honored With Legend Award, Boyz II Men, Bobby Brown, Brandy & More Pay Tribute at 2015 Soul Train Awards
Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds is one of a kind. Aside from his own hit singles and albums over the years, he helped mold many of the industry's best R&B and soul artists for the last few decades. So it was no surprise that he would be honored with the Legend Award at the 2015 Soul Train Awards.
Before Babyface received his award, a video was shown that chronicled the veteran crooner's career and featured testimonials from Toni Braxton, Perri "Pebbles" and his collaborative musical partner L.A. Reid.
"This is beautiful," said Reid, who presented him with the award that night. "I feel deeply honored to have had a front row seat to the evolution of this true musical giant."
"It's hard to believe," said Babyface during his acceptance speech, "it's hard to believe 25 years ago, I received the Soul Train Award for 'Tender Lover.'"
He then reenacts the moment he first won that award. "The only thing I can remember is that I was scared and I was shocked. I forgot people's names, and I even forgot L.A."
Babyface then thanked Reid for "being my friend, being my brother and my partner." Following his speech, he wanted to curate his best musical moments live onstage. After running over to a silver grand piano to play the opening chords to "Can We Talk?," a very grown Tevin Campbell performed which was then followed by Brandy's "Sittin' Up in My Room," which is from 1995's Waiting to Exhale movie soundtrack.
Also from the same soundtrack, Fantasia performed "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" from the late Whitney Houston as the audience sang along with her. The 31-year-old singer then performed Karyn White's 1988 track "Superwoman" with so much passion and did not miss a beat.
Following Fantasia, a snippet of Bobby Brown's "Every Little Step" is played. However Bobby doesn't come out till he performs "Roni." But what makes the performance more special was the fact that Babyface joins him to sing his classic ballad. Things then slow down for some good old fashion crooning with Boyz II Men's performance of "I'll Make Love to You" and "End of Road."
The slow jams continue with Babyface's 1989 song, "Whip Appeal," who was accompanied by two sexy dancers. And as he performed, he showed that he's still got that smooth swagger and sang the song effortlessly as the crowd jumped to their feet and cheered him on.
Congratulations, Babyface! He is without a doubt a true soul legend.