Un-break My Heart – Toni Braxton | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#1 for 11 weeks) and R&B (#2 for 4 weeks); 1996

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Peak #1 Pop for 11 weeks and # 2 R&B for 4 weeks; 1996 Song writer extraordinaire Diane Warren and ace record producer David Foster were well experienced in creating hits.

Their most recent smash, Because You Loved Me by Celine Dion stayed at #1 for six weeks, before dropping out of the Top 10 in late July. Just three months later, Un-break began its chart run.

Heavy radio airplay plus a dance mix version serviced to clubs and featured on television, propelled Un-break into the Top 10 one week after its debut, where it remained for over six months. Of course, the superb song, arrangement, and vocal contributed in no small part to the success.

Diane came up with an unusual title and a melody sung in a low key, David incorporated a Spanish guitar lick influenced by Bryan Adams‘ Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman, and Toni delivered a blockbuster performance. Only the chart-dominating Macarena, kept Un-break from being the #1 record of 1996.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

• David Foster

Lyrics Written by:

• Diane Warren

Awards:

• The music video for “Un-break My Heart” won a Billboard Music Award for Best Female Video in 1997
• “Un-break My Heart” won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1997