Babyface and Kelly Clarkson cover Whitney Houston classic
Babyface revealed how Whitney Houston's 'Exhale (Shoop Shoop)' song came about.
R&B icon Babyface stopped by Kelly Clarkson's show recently to promote his new song, 'As A Matter Of Fact'.
During his appearance, the 63-year-old performed some of the hits he wrote and produced for the 1995 film, 'Waiting to Exhale', including Whitney Houston's 'Exhale (Shoop Shoop)'.
Babyface, whose real name is Kenneth Edmonds, wrote and produced the song. He performed a duet of the track with Kelly during the 'Songs & Stories' segment.
The 12-time Grammy Award-winner revealed that Whitney had a say on which artists appeared on the soundtrack.
"We picked them together. She said, 'Okay, but I get to say who can and can't.' So there were some people that she was like, nah," Babyface said.
Some of the artists featured on the soundtrack included TLC, Toni Braxton, Aretha Franklin, Chanté Moore, Patti LaBelle, and Faith Evans.
Babyface also revealed how 'Exhale (Shoop Shoop)' came about.
"When we sat together I played it for her... the verses were great but I didn't have the chorus finished, and so I started doing the shoop, shoop. And when I finished it, I said, 'I don't have this part yet but shoop, shoop." And then she said, 'Babyface, you done finally ran out of words.' But it felt so good ultimately that I was like, why change it?"
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During the hour-long segment, Babyface and Kelly also performed 'Not Gon' Cry'. Mary J Blige recorded the track, which he also wrote and produced for the 'Waiting To Exhale' soundtrack.
The song received a 'Best Female R&B Vocal Performance' nomination at the 39th Grammy Awards. It was nominated alongside 'Exhale (Shoop Shoop)' and Brandy's 'Sittin' Up in My Room' - which also featured on the soundtrack.
Kelly and Babyface also sang Boyz II Men's 'Water Runs Dry' and 'I'll Make Love To You'. Babyface wrote both songs.
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The 'Reason for Breathing' hitmaker told Kelly that he wrote his first song when he was in the sixth grade. The love song was called 'Here I Go Falling In Love Again'.
"I saw a girl and fell in love with her and I used my brother's friend's guitar of a cousin and it was a right-handed guitar. I picked it up and learned some chords and wrote this song for her. She never heard it. "
His sixth-grade crush also inspired his second song, 'The Bitter Taste Of Life' - which he wrote in the eighth grade.
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Babyface has written and produced songs some of the music industry's biggest musicians but he has several hits of his own. One of his latest songs, 'Seamless' featuring Kehlani, is currently at number 20 on the ECR Top 40 with Danny brought to you by CTM.
The track features on Babyface's album, 'Girls Night Out'.
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Main image credit: YouTube/ The Kelly Clarkson Show