Toni Braxton

独孤飘零

拥有全球 4000 万张专辑销量和 6 座葛莱美奖， 三项全美音乐奖及二项灵魂列车奖，R&B 天后 Toni Braxton 在名利双收之余，竟然还拥有一个 幸福家庭，可说是最美满的明星之一。当然对于乐迷来说，后者并不重要，重要的还是 Toni Braxton 的歌声和倩影。
印象中所有的 R&B 天后都是性感的，很典型的那种美国黑美人。 Toni Braxton 也不例外，一贯的高耸上围，纤细腰身，丰满下围，衣不遮体装扮。但是 Toni Braxton 有点不同——年轻的外表下，总是带着一丝的羞涩。能唱 R&B ，出色的歌喉是不能少，销魂就更好。 Toni Braxton 就是此例，她对一些柔情似水的慢板作品演绎尤为出色。她的歌声婉转动听，轻柔处更如小鸟依人。
從第一張同名專輯到最新發行的The Heat（熱情如火），Toni Braxton在她七年的歌唱歲月之中，充滿了無數的成就與掌聲。除了林林總總的獎項與榮譽之外，她也是第一位在迪士尼的音樂劇『美女與野獸』中扮演女主角Belle的黑人表演者。她的專輯曾經獲得多張白金唱片、葛萊美獎以及百老匯的肯定，這些都一再證明了這個來自馬里蘭州的女孩是一位天生的歌手。
Toni Braxton從小就與她的四個姊妹在教堂唱詩班表演，並且深受Stevie Wonder（史提夫汪德）、Anita Baker（安妮塔貝克）、Chaka Khan與Whitney Houston（惠妮休士頓）的影響。Toni Braxton在Bowie State就讀大學時，原本打算成為一名教師。但1992年時與L.A. Reid共組LaFace唱片公司的Babyface，在聽到Toni Braxton的歌聲後驚艷不已，於是便將她簽下來成為LaFace旗下第一位女歌手。
1993年Toni Braxton發行了首張同名處女大作，專輯內的主打與非主打單曲如Breathe Again、Another Sad Love Song、Seven Whole Days等皆席捲美國各大流行與R&B排行榜，全球更是賣出了1千萬張，當年的葛萊美獎還頒以最佳新人與最佳節奏藍調女藝人獎項給予肯定。接下來於1995年發行的第二張專輯Secrets仍是氣焰高漲，一推出後便在美國本土賣出了7百萬張，海外的銷售量也高達3百萬張。超級單曲You're Making Me High是Toni Braxton第一支超越節奏藍調藩籬的金曲，同時這首歌也為她再添一座葛萊美最佳節奏藍調女藝人獎座；而充滿爆炸力與靈魂風味的Un-Break My Heart在1996年發行後，旋即成為排行榜的佳作，也讓Toni Braxton再度贏得葛萊美最佳流行女藝人獎。然而1999年時Toni Braxton因為在不清楚自己的財務狀況下貿然投資，結果宣告破產。所幸之後得到迪士尼音樂劇『美女與野獸』的表演機會，將她從低潮的深淵拉了上來，重新拾回自信。
這段時間與生命的歷練讓Toni Braxton日漸成熟，並對自我有了更深一層的體認，因此2000年新專輯The Heat便是呈現出Toni Braxton蛻變後的成長，以一個21世紀年輕女性面對生命真實面的立場上，探討愛情、熱情與羅曼史間的衝擊。這一張由Rodney Jerkins一手製作打造的全新大碟除了有Toni Braxton的招牌憂傷情歌外，這次還找來饒舌高手Dr.Dre（德瑞博士）與TLC的Lisa "Left Eye"（左眼麗莎）加入製作陣容，將Hip-Hop的曲風融合進來。同時還有兩首由Diane Warren創作、David Foster製作的動人抒情曲Spanish Guitar和I am Still Breathing。
在進入歌壇的7年中，Toni Braxton嚐到了成為超級天后的滋味，也經歷了因破產而跌落人生谷底的掙扎。在一切苦難終將煙消雲散之際，Toni Braxton重新展現出她對生命的正面態度，再次以特有的動人嗓音，表現出自我創造力的成長與反映出真實生活的寫照。

[wmv=300,50,1]http://www.gzwd.gov.cn/sc/UploadFiles_5151/200612/20061229110530686.mp3[/wmv]
Fairy Tale-Toni Braxton
And if I was wrong
I know I don't deserve this, yeah
Don't stay too long
I need to hear those words
You used to tell me
From way back when we were just friends
Before this love affair began
Tell me how a love can end
Or how a broken heart can mend
Please tell me this is not the end
Please tell me now
How the fairy tale begins
Or how it was supposed to end
Please tell me that part again?
Tell me now
(Tell me now baby)
Tell me now
(Again baby)
Tell me now
(Whoo!)
Now tell me what's wrong
I never meant to hurt you, no baby ooh
Was it the home, the car?
Or darling all those things we thought we needed
But tell me even if it ain't true
But baby please don't say we're through, no, no
Tell me how a love can end, yeah
Or how a broken heart can mend
Just tell me this is not the end
Please tell me now
How the fairy tale begins
Or how it was supposed to end
Please tell me that part again?
Tell me now
(Tell me now baby)
Tell me now
(Break it down darling)
Tell me now
I wanna know that feeling
That from way back telling me it was true that
Love was sweet and innocent
Cause you and I just can't be friends
Make all the wrong go right again
Where true love never has to end, ooh
Tell me how
Tell me how our love can win
Just tell me this is not the end
Tell me, tell me how this fairy tale begins?
Or how it was supposed to end
Please tell me that part again?
Oh I need to know, ooh baby
La, la, la, la


[wmv=300,50,0]http://blog.weacity.com/pic/ToniBraxtonSpanishGuitar.mp3[/wmv]

《Spanish Guitar》
A smoky room, a small café
They come to hear you play
And drink and dance the night away
I sit out in the crowd
And close my eyes
Dream to mind
But you don´t know
You don´t even know that I´m there
I wish that I was in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
And you would play me through the night
Till the dawn
I wish you´d hold me in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
And you would play me through all night long
All night long I´d be your song, I´d be your song
Fill my heart with
Every note you play
I pray you´ll look my way
And hold me to your hear someday, yeah
I long to be the one that
You caress with a tenderness
And you don´t know
You don´t even know that I exist
I wish that I was in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
And you would play me through the night
Till the dawn
I wish you´d hold me in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
All night long
All night long I´d be your song, I´d be your song
Te sientes inteligente
Cierras tus ojos
Y suenes que soy tuyo
Pero yo no se
Ni si quiera que estas aqui
Me gustaria tenerte en mis brazos amor
I sit out in the crowd
And close my eyes
Dream to mind
And you don´t know
You don´t even know that I exist, oh
I wish that I was in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
And you would play me through the night
Till the dawn
I wish you´d hold me in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
Wish that I was in your arms
Like that Spanish guitar
All night long
All night long I´d be your song
(Seria tu cancion)
I´ll be your song, your song, your song
I´ll be your song, yeah
I´ll be your song, your song, your song
Play me all night long
I´ll be your song, your song, your song
I´ll be your song, yeah
I´ll be your song, your song, your song
I wanna be your song
I´ll be your song, your song, your song
I´ll be your song, yeah
I´ll be your song, your song, your song
Hold me baby all night long


Fairy Tale
Spanish Guitar
Let It Flow
how could an angel break my heart
another sad love song

[ 本帖最后由 独孤飘零 于 2007-6-1 15:21 编辑 ]