Times staff report
Seven-time Grammy-winning singer Toni Braxton brought her “As Long As I Live” tour and special guest SWV to the Boutwell Auditorium on Sunday, January 20.
Braxton who sang her mega hit “Un-Break My Heart” is celebrating 25 years of music and shared sultry tracks from her latest album, Sex & Cigarettes, her first solo album in nearly a decade.
She has seven Grammys and 67 million albums sold since 1993, when she began her reign as “Queen of R&B” and became one of the best-selling female artists of the ’90s. Her treasure chest of No. 1 hits includes the tearjerker “Un-Break My Heart” and the dance floor gem “You’re Makin’ Me High.”
The openly raw and bold Sex & Cigarettes is her first studio album since her 2014 collaboration with Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds on the Grammy Award–winning Love, Marriage & Divorce. The new album features the slow gem “My Heart,” which pairs her with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat.
Also appearing with Braxton was SWV, also known as Sisters With Voices, the R&B trio who launched as a gospel group before hitting it big with hits “Weak”, “Rain”, “Someone” and “You’re The One.”
