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Toni Braxton: My Bankruptcy Case Changed the Business -- Sexy Chanteuse Opens up About Financial Woes Ahead of Vegas Headline Comeback
Toni Braxton, one of the biggest acts of the 1990s, blames her LaFace Records contract for her bankruptcy ahead of her debut as a headliner on the Las Vegas Strip.
Pop star Toni Braxton, long tight-lipped about her embarrassing bankruptcy in 1998, told "The Strip" podcast this week she earned just $2,000 in royalties on her multi-platinum sophomore album "Secrets," a pittance that forced major changes in how recording artists’ contracts are structured now.
Braxton, aiming for a return to the limelight after two lackluster albums, opens a six-month Vegas headliner gig at the Flamingo Hotel-Casino on Aug. 3.
"My situation wasn’t about having an artist spending all her money, my situation was about an artist who made 32 cents a record and had to pay back all the money the record company invested and pay back studio time and had to pay back the promotion and everything," Braxton told the weekly celebrity interview show "The Strip," which is found at thestrippodcast "So when I got my royalty checks for my second album, it was less than $2,000. This is fact."
Braxton admits part of it was her fault but says it was a lousy contract that really did her in and that forced big changes in the recording industry.
She said: "Was it my fault for spending money before I had money? Yes. But I was on tours spending money on tours promoting myself for my record. So that’s how my money was being spent, the money I thought I was getting. And because of my case, it changed a lot of artists’ contracts. It changed a lot of the laws in entertainment. So my situation was a little bit different. But the reason you don't hear about it is because no one wants to bring it up and talk about that case."
Many saw the six-time Grammy winner’s 1998 bankruptcy as a ploy to renegotiate her contract with LaFace Records, the label founded by Antonio "LA" Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds that made her a star. Braxton is best known for "Breathe Again" and "Unbreak My Heart."
The audio of this show and any edition of "The Strip," which posts every Thursday night, can be found at http://thestrip.podshow.com/.
About The Strip
"The Strip," presently No. 1 in its category, is a breakthrough in podcasting by featuring a litany of major Las Vegas celebrities including Steve Wynn, Dennis Miller, Charlie Palmer, Harvey Fierstein, Dennis Hopper, Johnny Mathis, Kathy Griffin, Howie Mandel, David Copperfield and dozens of others. Co-hosts Steve Friess (USA Today, Newsweek) and Miles Smith (NBC) are two of the most respected journalists in Las Vegas.
The Strip is a proud member of the Podshow Podcast Network, the premier network in podcasting founded by media entrepreneurs Ron Bloom and Adam Curry, host of The Daily Source Code. Listen to "The Strip" and connect with their fans now on PodShow+ at
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