TV presenter and singer Tracey Braxton died on Saturday. She was 50.
One of Miss Braxton’s sisters, singer Toni Braxton, confirmed her death in an Instagram statement from the Braxton family. The cause of her death was not immediately determined.
“Needless to say, she was a shining light, a beautiful daughter, an amazing sister, a loving mother, wife, grandmother and a respected performer,” the statement said.
Tracey Braxton was perhaps best known for her appearances on the reality show Braxton Family Values with her sisters Tamar, Toni, Towanda and Trina, as well as her brother Michael and their families.
Miss Braxton was referred to as Wild Card on the show, which premiered on WE in 2011 and ran until the end of 2020. Ms. Braxton also appeared on Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars with her husband, Kevin Surratt.
Tracey Renee Braxton was born on April 2, 1971, the third child of Michael and Evelyn.
The Braxton children grew up in a religious family in Severn, Maryland. Their father was a part-time preacher and forbade the family from playing secular music.
The full list of survivors was not immediately available.
Ms. Braxton sang with her sisters in her teens and early teens, and the five of them formed the Braxtons together and released the single “Good Life” in 1990.
Toni Braxton was cut out of the group to become a solo artist and her debut album was met with acclaim when it was released in 1993.
The rest of the sisters continued to work as a group, with the exception of Tracey Braxton, who left the music industry in the 1990s to raise her son. She worked as a social worker before the sisters reunited for Braxton Family Values.
On the show, she spoke about her decision to retire from music and the unresolved feelings she had about leaving it behind, which set her on the path to returning to the industry. She released her debut solo album Crash & Burn in 2014 and her follow-up album On Earth in 2018.
In February 2016, Ms. Braxton voiced a memorable moment when an unnamed person at a White House event can be heard shouting “Hey Michelle” to Michelle and Barack Obama.
Mr. Obama responded, “We know it’s Black History Month when you hear someone say, ‘Hi Michelle. Girl!'”
Ms. Braxton admitted that her voice was the voice during an appearance on the talk show The Real, hosted by her sister Tamar Braxton.