He's A Smooth Operator

Babyface is in love again. It's new Year's Eve at Madison Square Garden, and he's pulled a woman out of the audience to romance her with one of his bedroom-eyes ballads: "I'll buy your clothes, pay your rent, cook your dinner too." Soon, Babyface hands the woman $500 in cash, saying, "This is for every man that's ever treated you wrong." Then he falls to his knees. The crowd roars, and why not? "Babyface is a hopeless romantic," says Madonna. "I adore him."

She's not alone. Babyface, 36, has two double-platinum R & B albums: "Tender Lover" and "For the Cool in You," which features his lovely Tracy Chapman-ish hit single "When Can I See You." But that's the least of it. Babyface may be the most successful songwriter and producer in pop. He co-wrote Madonna's wistful new single "Take a Bow," as well as knocked out Boyz II Men's lush epic, "I'll Make Love to You," now tied with Whitney Houston's rendition of "I Will Always Love You" for the longest-running No. 1 hit of all time. Last week Babyface (born Kenneth Edmonds) was nominated for five Grammys.

At a time when rap and rock are rife with misogyny and disaffection, Babyface revels in the love song. He coos. He beseeches. He begs if he has to. "Babyface is a real melody man," says Vanessa Williams, who has recorded his songs. Yes, and he sings to women so tenderly that you sometimes wonder if he's a just teeny bit full of it. "I'll make love to you / Like you want me to" -- who's going to argue with that? Babyface laughs. "I can't help it if I feel women deserve respect," he says. "I don't always live up to my lyrics, but I try to sing about what should be, not necessarily what is."

Was he always this nice? Babyface grew up in Indianapolis. Dad died when he was in eighth grade; Mom worked in a pharmaceutical plant. He wrote his first song for a grammar-school crush. "I never gave it to her," he says. "I couldn't get up enough courage." But he's been doling songs out ever since, usually to singers who can emote mightily enough to sell his plainspoken lyrics: Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton.

Babyface scored most of his biggest successes with a partner, Antonio (L.A.) Reid. The duo wrote and produced 75 top-10 hits, among them Boyz II Men's "End of the Road," another of the biggest smashes in history. They split in 1993. But Babyface, who lives in a Beverly Hills chateau with his second wife, still thrives. He just finished writing a ballad for Michael Jackson's album. And, he's booked to do projects with Houston and Quincy Jones. It seems everybody wants a piece of his broken heart.

ALLISON SAMUELS IN LOS ANGELES

© 1995