The Man Behind the Love Songs of Whitney Houston, Ariana Grande, Madonna & More

Thu, 21 May 2026 10:28:54 +0000

The New York Times Magazine polled more than 250 music insiders and gathered six Times critics to choose the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters. One of the artists who made the list was Babyface, the craftsman behind dozens of hits for performers like Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, Madonna, Toni Braxton, Bobby Brown, Aretha Franklin and Ariana Grande. The writer Danyel Smith met with him in Las Vegas to talk about how he wrote dozens of love songs that defined the 1990s.

See the full list of 30 greatest American songwriters here: http://nytimes.com/songwriters
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