Toni Braxton had considered retiring before “The Masked Singer”, but this music icon stopped her

If it hadn’t been for one surprising music legend, Toni Braxton would have left the music business years ago, meaning she would never have appeared on The Masked Singer last week. In 2013, Braxton shocked his fans by announcing his intention to give up music to focus on acting. However, Prince later convinced her to continue. Braxton even won his seventh Grammy after returning to music, winning Best R&B Album for Love, marriage and divorce.

In 2013, following bankruptcy filing in 2007 and revealing in 2010 that she had been diagnosed with lupus, Braxton said The Grio she was planning to quit music. “For what I’m doing, I have to love it. I have to feel that excitement and let’s go,” Braxton said at the time. “I’m just not going to make albums anymore; maybe touring every now and then here and there because I like to play, but not as much as I used to. But no new projects.”

During an episode of 2013 Braxton Family Values, Braxton also told collaborator Babyface that she really has no interest in recording again. “I had a discussion with my sisters and told them I didn’t want to do music anymore,” Braxton said. “I really don’t. I’m really not into it anymore. I really tried. I don’t know what to sing anymore.”

Her feelings about music suddenly changed after a chance meeting with Prince. After the singer’s death in 2016, Braxton said NBC News that one of the things she loved most about performing “Purple Rain” was her support for other artists. “He taught me to preserve my music, my talent and never compromise my integrity,” recalls Braxton. “Prince was one of the artists who called me when I was about to retire and he said, ‘Toni Braxton, you can’t retire. It’s too early and you you’re good at thinking that. ‘

Prince also offered to help during the most difficult times in Braxton’s life. “When I experienced my second bankruptcy, he called me to open him up on tour, but I couldn’t because I had just been diagnosed with lupus,” she said. NBC News. “He was like an older brother who always rushed to save the day during my toughest times.”

Braxton’s decision to return to music paid off. In 2014, she released Love, marriage and divorce, a collaboration with Babyface which earned him the seventh Grammy of his career. His 2018 album Sex and cigarettes was nominated for Best R&B Album, while the single “Long as I Live” was nominated for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. In August 2020, she released her ninth album, Spell my name. She also continues to star in WE tv Braxton Family Values with her sisters and their mother Evelyn. While The masked singer The week of the Season 6 premiere, Braxton became the third celebrity to be eliminated after performing Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” in the Pufferfish costume.