The year was 2000. Long before WE tv would liberate Braxton Family Values upon the masses, the acclaimed artiste Toni Braxton was capping off a majorly fruitful decade with the release of her third studio album “The Heat,” led by single “He Wasn’t Man Enough.”

Breaking away from the ballads that made her a household name [see “Un-break My Heart”], the Grammy winner instead chose to test the dance-pop waters, the lucrative sound of the time. With a little help from producer extraordinaire Darkchild and his genre-integrating touch, the uptempo R&B-tinged single would go on to reach #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and would net Toni her fourth Grammy Award. But one producer can only do so much. The real impetus behind the success was the sultry and resonant vocals of the then 32 year old, showing teeny-boppers half her age how a real artist maintains talent.

Currently, you can find Ms. Braxton promoting her duets album Love, Marriage, & Divorce with Babyface, which just won the award for “Best R&B Album” at this years Grammy ceremonies. A near fifteen years later, the accomplished singer is still racking up gold gramophones: