Musicians - Tamar Braxton

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	Musicians - Tamar Braxton

Tamar Braxton (pronounced Tay-mahr), is an African-American R&B singer, best known as Toni Braxton's baby sister, as well as the soprano in the R&B group, The Braxtons. However she also has developed her own name for her lush coloratura soprano talents, easily accessing the whistle register.

Biography

Tamar Braxton was born in 1977 in Severn, Maryland to Michael and Evelyn Braxton. The youngest of the Braxton's six children, Tamar started singing as a toddler. Evelyn, herself an opera singer, recognized her children's talents when one day, Tamar, sang "Can you please get me some toilet paper!" Evelyn quickly started training her girls, and eventually enrolled them in singing lessons. The Braxton children also would eventually enter in their church choir, where Michael Braxton was pastor.

Brought up in a strict Christian household, secular music was initially frowned upon, causing the children to sneak and sing along to Soul Train when the parents were out of the house. They would soon start harmonizing, forming a girl group. Tamar says of this period "I was always the highest note." That helped in developing her astonishing coloratura soprano, a sharp contrast to her older sister's husky contralto.

One fateful day, Toni (who had no real aspirations of show business at that point) was pumping gas at a local gas station while singing along, when she caught the attention of a producer. He heard her sing, and decided to pull the five sisters into a group; he envisioned a female version of the Jackson 5. They released a single on Atlantic Records in 1990 as "The Braxtons," and caught the attention of producers Antonio "L.A" Reid and Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. The two had just started a then flegling record label, LaFace, with Arista Records. The guys passed on the group, as they had just signed a new trio named TLC, but they were looking for a solo female artist. So the girls talked it over, and Toni decided to embark on her now famous solo career.

The sisters worked as backup singers for Toni (you can see them in Toni's video Seven Whole Days). Eventually, the girls (minus Toni) would release an album for Atlantic, to which the group was still signed, in 1996 entitled So Many Ways.

In 1999, Tamar first explored her gospel side on T.D Jakes Love Songs album. Later, Tamar would meet up with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, a rapper/producer (also famous for bringing Blu Cantrell to national attention) based in Atlanta, Georgia. She recorded her solo debut album, Ridiculous, so named because of the many different musical styles on the album. The album would be retooled and released by Dreamworks as Tamar on January 18, 2000. It was lead in by the first single for the album, If You Don't Wanna Love Me, and featured the second single, "Get None" with guest appearances by Jermaine Dupri and rapper Amil, the dulcet Once Again, and Money Can't Buy You Love which showcased her elastic coloratura talent accessing E7 (the E in the seventh octave, for comparison, Christina Aguilera's fairy tale High E was an E5, two full octaves lower). Despite a strong showing for her single If You Don't Wanna Love Me and a whos-who of producers, the album didn't sell well, and Tamar was dropped from her contract.

Tamar sang for the Kingdom Come soundtrack, with Toni Braxton appearing in the movie as Juanita Slocumb. Currently she sang background for Toni's album More Than A Woman (released 2002), and resides in Atlanta. She also negotiated a new contract with Tommy Mottola's Casablanca Records, whose roster includes Lindsay Lohan, and is in works to record a new album.

Discography

Albums

Ridiculous 1999
Tamar 2000

Singles

"If You Don't Wanna Love Me"
"Get None" (featuring J.D. and Amil
)
"Try Me"

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