Timothy Christian Riley (born December 10, 1965) is an American drummer, keyboardist, and singer best known for being a member of the multiplatinum 1990s soul/R&B group

Tony! Toni! Toné! Tony! Toni! Toné! was an American soul/ R&B band from Oakland, California, popular during the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of D'wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Saadiq ...

Early life

Riley was born on December 10, 1965 in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

where he attended

Castlemont High School Castlemont High School is a public high school in Oakland, California, United States, originally known as East Oakland High School. It is part of the Oakland Unified School District. The Castlemont name was selected by a vote of the students. C ...

. He is cousins to

D'wayne Wiggins D'wayne Patrice Wiggins (born February 14, 1961) is an American singer, guitarist, and record producer best known as the founding member of the 1990s soul/R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné! Early life Wiggins was born in Oakland, California; speci ...

and

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! In addition to his solo and group ...

. He sang in choir at school and played drums at church.

Early career and Tony! Toni! Toné!

Due to Riley having an interest in music, he was chosen by his cousins to be in their band and he continued to play drums in church even after achieving fame. The group has 14 Billboard-charting R&B singles, including five number one hits, three Top Ten pop singles, one gold album, two platinum albums and one double platinum album. They sold over six million albums during their career together. In 2006, Tony! Toni! Toné! was included in the

New Jack Reunion Tour The New Jack Reunion Tour, sometimes referred to as the New Jack Swing Reunion Tour, was a 2006 concert tour package that featured members of the 1990s music genre " new jack swing", the architect of which was Teddy Riley. The tour was organize ...

line-up. The group has toured internationally since 1998 and continues to perform on tours today. Riley described this atmosphere of constant jamming in Rolling Stone as "like in the neighborhood, there was always competitions. I mean, it would be like school talent shows, and you'd come home from school, and there would be like five or six drummers in their houses playing. Everyone just played, and you had to stay on top of it,".

Music

Riley worked on songs for the album, ''

House of Music ''House of Music'' is the fourth and final album by American R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné!, released on November 19, 1996, by Mercury Records. It follows the success of the band's 1993 album '' Sons of Soul'' and a hiatus during which each member p ...

,'' independently before recording them together as a group. Eventually, Raphael Saadiq left the band and was replaced by Amir Khalil. He and the other group members worked on songwriting and production for other recording artists during the band's hiatus, including

D'Angelo Michael Eugene Archer (born February 11, 1974), better known by his stage name D'Angelo (), is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He first garnered attention after co-producing the single "U Will Know" ...

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hol ...

Karyn White Karyn Layvonne White (born October 14, 1965) is an American singer who was popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She is known for several hit singles including "Superwoman" (1988), " Secret Rendezvous" (1989), " The Way You Love Me" (19 ...

Tevin Campbell Tevin Jermod Campbell (born November 12, 1976) is an American singer and songwriter. He performed gospel in his local church from an early age. Following an audition for jazz musician Bobbi Humphrey in 1988, Campbell was signed to Warner Bros. Re ...

, and

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

Film and TV

Riley appeared on

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

with the rest of Tony! Toni! Toné! in 1993. He served as a contributor to the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of ''

High School High ''High School High'' is a 1996 American comedy film about an inner city high school in the Los Angeles, California area, starring Jon Lovitz, Tia Carrere, Mekhi Phifer, Louise Fletcher, Malinda Williams, and Brian Hooks. It is a spoof of movies c ...

'', ''

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate ''A Thin Line Between Love and Hate'' is a 1996 American comedy thriller film. It tells the story of Darnell Wright (Martin Lawrence), a ladies' man who finds himself stalked by one of his obsessed lovers: Brandi (Lynn Whitfield), an attractive ...

'', ''

Pose Human positions refer to the different physical configurations that the human body can take. There are several synonyms that refer to human positioning, often used interchangeably, but having specific nuances of meaning. *''Position'' is a gen ...

'', ''

Boyz n the Hood ''Boyz n the Hood'' is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King, and An ...

'', ''Poetic Justice'', ''

House Party 2 ''House Party 2'' is a 1991 American comedy film and the sequel to the 1990 film ''House Party'' released by New Line Cinema. The film returns most of the cast of the first film such as Kid 'n Play and Full Force, along with new cast members suc ...

'', ''

Jason's Lyric ''Jason's Lyric'' is a 1994 American erotic romantic psychological drama film, written by Bobby Smith Jr., directed by Doug McHenry, who co-produced the film with George Jackson and Marilla Lane Ross, and starring Allen Payne, Jada Pinkett, B ...

'', and '' Insecure.''

Current projects

Riley continues to be active as the percussionist of

References

External links

*
Tony Toni Tone

Electric Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Timothy Christian 1965 births Tony! Toni! Toné! American rhythm and blues musicians Living people Musicians from Oakland, California American people of Nigerian descent American drummers American keyboardists Raphael Saadiq Background artists