Tony! Toni! Toné!
Tony! Toni! Toné!
Tony! Toni! Toné! is an Oakland-based R&B group consisting of brothers D'Wayne Wiggins (lead vocals and guitar) and Charlie Ray Wiggins (a/k/a Raphael Saadiq on lead vocals and bass) along with their cousin Timothy Christian Riley (drums and keyboards). They released their Gold debut album Who? in 1988, which was produced by Thomas McElroy and Denzil Foster and featured the #1 R&B hit “Little Walter” and Top 5 R&B hit “Baby Doll.” Their breakout 1990 sophomore album, The Revival, hit Platinum status as the singles “The Blues,” “Whatever You Want,” “It Never Rains (in Southern California),” and “Feels Good” all hit #1 on the Billboard R&B chart while “Feels Good” cracked the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
After releasing the hit single “Me and You” on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack in 1991, they released their third album Sons of Soul in 1993. This album hit double Platinum status thanks to the Top 10 hits “If I Had No Loot” and “Anniversary” along with the Top 5 R&B hit “(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow.” The last album from the Tonys was 1996’s House of Music featuring the Top 5 R&B hits “Let’s Get Down” with DJ Quik and “Thinking of You.”
Raphael Saadiq went on to become a solo artist, in-demand producer and Grammy winner that has worked with artists such as D'Angelo, TLC, A Tribe Called Quest, Whitney Houston, Earth, Wind & Fire, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu and many more. D'Wayne Wiggins has worked with Alicia Keys, Destiny’s Child, Keyshia Cole, Jamie Foxx, Jody Watley, Too $hort, and Ludacris among others. Timothy Christian Riley has produced and provided instrumentation on a number of projects. The group continues to perform but with Amar Khalil singing lead in place of Raphael Saadiq.