Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds Pays Tribute to Late Whitney Houston 24 Years after Release of Her Single 'Exhale'

Babyface marked a milestone in his working relationship with Whitney Houston in a rare post celebrating 24 years of a song they collaborated on.

With all the recent talk surrounding Whitney Houston’s controversial life coinciding with the release of the memoir, “A Song For You: My Life with Whitney,” Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds chose to shine the light on the late singer through the music they made.

Babyface had fond memories working with Whitney describing it as “like working with my sister.”

THE RECENT HEADLINER SURROUNDING WHITNEY

Fans have been focused on the bombshell revelations of Robyn Crawford, Whitney’s very close friend, and rumored romantic partner when she released her new book chronicling her life with the late singer.

To set the record straight regarding rumors linking her romantically with Whitney, Robyn finally opened up about the physical relationship she had with the songstress. Robyn revealed that from friendship she and Whitney crossed the line and even detailed their first kiss.

However, she also recounted how Whitney put an end to their physical closeness in favor of her career, her husband and family.

A TRIBUTE TO HER MUSIC

As the controversy surrounding Robyn’s new book filled the headlines, singer Babyface chose to remember Whitney through their music. On his Instagram, he marked the 24th anniversary of their single, “Exhale.”

If you recall back in 1995, Whitney co-starred in the film, “Waiting to Exhale” which was adapted from Terry McMillan’s best-selling novel with the same name. Whitney was joined in the cast by Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Leia Rochon.

The film’s soundtrack was a production of Babyface with Whitney delivering the music along with other female singers including Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, and Brandy.

“It’s funny to me because I’m just this regular guy. People will come to the studio and get nervous. It takes them a second before they get comfortable..."

The song, “Exhale” which Whitney recorded became her last number 1 on Billboard. Babyface recalled the challenge of topping Whitney’s success in “The Bodyguard” soundtrack while producing the album for “Waiting to Exhale.”

“Whitney had just come off The Bodyguard, so I thought '…ok, this is going to be rough,” he told Billboard in 2015. He also said Whitney wanted to be heavily involved especially in the choice of female artists who’d be part of the album.

"LIKE WORKING WITH MY SISTER"

Babyface had fond memories working with Whitney describing it as “like working with my sister.”

“It was just fun working with my sister – my very talented sister,” he stressed. “In that sense, it was a calming thing.”

This is probably the reason why Babyface still continues to miss Whitney after all these years. His caption in a photo he shared from back in their days together simply read,

“It was 24 years ago today ...We released The single Exhale..Missing Whitney.”

TIMELESS SONGWRITER

Babyface has written music for countless music royalty from Carole King to Michael Jackson to Barbra Streisand. Madonna describes his music as like Rolls Royces telling Rolling Stone, “The design is classic, the ride is smooth, and they’re built to last.”

Today Babyface remains a powerful force behind the music of contemporary artists like Arianna Grande and The Weeknd. With the clout he has, he admits some artists get star struck around him.

“It’s funny to me because I’m just this regular guy. People will come to the studio and get nervous. It takes them a second before they get comfortable, before they can really sing right, and that’s happened more times than I can count.”

We would definitely be star struck faced with this iconic and brilliant singer/songwriter.