The man now known Raphael Saadiq grew up as Charlie Ray Wiggins in Oakland, California as part of a musically-inclined family. Later, Saadiq, his cousin and brother founded the R&B trio Tony! Toni! Toné!
Tony! Toni! Toné! was a highly successful and very popular R&B band from the late 1980s and early 1990s, beginning with their debut album, Who?, which was released in 1988. Who?, which sold over half a million copies in the U.S. was followed by three more albums, 1990’s The Revival, 1993’s Sons of Soul and 1996’s House of Music, all of which sold at least a million copies in the U.S. alone. (Sons of Soul sold two million). Among the band’s hit songs were “Little Walter” (their 1988 debut single), “Feels Good,” (released in 1990) “If I Had No Loot,” (1991) and “Anniversary” (1993) and “Let’s Get Down” (1997).
In 1996, Raphael Wiggins changed his name to Raphael Saadiq and later left Tony! Toni! Toné! to go solo. However, his next big project was a supergroup called Lucy Pearl, featuring himself, ex-En Vogue singer Dawn Robinson and A Tribe Called Quest member/DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad. The group released one self-titled album in 2000, but the trio eventually split up after Robinson left the group (she was briefly replaced by the singer Joi before the group called it quits for good).
In June 2002, Raphael finally released his debut solo album, Instant Vintage, led by the single “Be Here,” featuring soul crooner D’Angelo.
Instant Vintage was a critical, but not commercial success and Saadiq eventually began working more as a studio musician and producing other artists, including D’Angelo, Joss Stone, Mary J. Blige, The Isley Brothers and Macy Gray. He eventually released two more solo albums, a live set called All Hits at the House of Blues and a studio album titled Ray Ray. His fourth solo album (third studio album), The Way I See It, is due out in September 2008. Saadiq has said the album is a tribute to Motown-style R&B of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.
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