Tony! Toni! Toné! is an American R&B/

Soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

band from

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, popular during the late 1980s to mid-1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of D'Wayne Wiggins on lead

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

and

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, his brother

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to prominence as a vocalist and bassist for the R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné!, which he formed with h ...

(born Charles Ray Wiggins) on lead vocals and

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, and their cousin Timothy Christian Riley on drums, keyboards, and background vocals. Originally, the band went by "Tony, Toni, Toné" as a joke, until they realized it "had a nice ring to it". After a stint as musicians on

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

's Parade Tour in 1986, the trio formed Tony! Toni! Toné! back in their hometown of Oakland that same year. The band first found success performing around the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. They released their debut album '' Who?'' in 1988. Their debut single, “

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart; three more singles from the album reached the Top 10; and the album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

. Tony! Toni! Toné! started producing their own music and found more mainstream success with their second album '' The Revival'' in 1990, fueled by the No.9 ''Billboard'' Hot 100 hit " Feels Good”. ''The Revival'' also included the R&B No.1s " It Never Rains (In Southern California)" and " Whatever You Want" and was certified platinum. The group achieved their greatest commercial success with the double platinum certified and critically acclaimed '' Sons of Soul'' album in 1993, which included the Hot 100 top 10 hits " If I Had No Loot" and "

Anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...

" and top 40 hit " (Lay Your Head on My) Pillow". With the group's reliance on traditional soul and R&B values of songwriting and instrumentation, ''Sons of Soul'' is considered a precursor to the

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from Soul music, soul ...

movement of the late 1990s. Tony! Toni! Toné! disbanded after the release of their platinum certified fourth album '' House of Music'' (1996), which critics cite as their best work.

History

1988–1992: ''Who?'' and ''The Revival''

Their debut album, '' Who?'', produced and co-written by Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, was released in 1988. The first single "

" went to #1 on the R&B charts. The next three singles, " Born Not to Know", "Baby Doll" and "For the Love of You" were all Top 10 R&B singles. ''Who?'' spent 44 weeks on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top Pop Albums, peaking at number 69. Billboard.com ''

''. Retrieved on 2011-06-17. On December 5, 1989, the album was certified

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA), for shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States. As of August 1993, it has sold over 700,000 copies in the US. Inspired by live instrumentation,

turntablism Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more Phonograph, turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into ...

, and classic

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

, Tony! Toni! Toné! recorded and produced their second album, '' The Revival'', mostly themselves and released it on May 8, 1990 to commercial success. ''The Revival'' charted for 64 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Top Pop Albums, peaking at number 34 on the chart and reaching

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

status." The Revival - Tony! Toni! Toné!. ''Billboard''. Retrieved on June 17, 2011. The album spawned several #1 R&B hits with " It Never Rains (In Southern California)", " Feels Good", " The Blues", and " Whatever You Want" all topping the R&B charts. The album's second single "Feels Good" was released on June 19 and certified

on November 13 after it had shipped 500,000 copies. The single topped the R&B chart for two weeks and reached number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the fall of 1990, going on to sell over one million copies. "Feels Good" was the group's first single to breach the Top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In late 1990, the album's fourth single "It Never Rains (In Southern California)" became a number-one R&B hit and also peaked at number 34 on the Hot 100. ''The Revival'' broadened the group's exposure to fans beyond their initial R&B audience. However, they became ambivalent about their newfound mainstream success and their music being labeled "retro" by critics. In an interview for ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' magazine, lead singer and bassist Raphael Wiggins expressed his dissatisfaction with the music industry, saying that "every record company wants to get a group and put 'em in a Benz with a car phone and a beeper, show them dressing in three different outfits, put them in a video shot on a beach with lots of swinging bikinis. You won't ever see us on a beach. We're just down-to-earth, funky, like-to-play guys." Before considering a follow-up album, the band recorded several songs for film soundtracks, including "Me and You" for '' Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), "House Party (I Don't Know What You Come to Do)" for '' House Party 2'' (1991), and "Waiting on You" for ''

Poetic Justice Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, h ...

'' (1993).

1992–1995: ''Sons of Soul''

Having fulfilled their creative intentions with ''The Revival'', Tony! Toni! Toné! wanted to pay homage to their musical influences with ''Sons of Soul''. In a 1993 interview for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', Wiggins elaborated on their direction for the album, stating "We're paying homage to a lot of older artists who paved the way for us artists like the Temptations,

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

, Earth, Wind and Fire. They're the people who inspired us when we were growing up, people like

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

. We feel we're the sons of everything and all those people who came before us." He also explained the album's title as a declaration of them being descendants of those artists, "not in a grandiose sense, but from the standpoint that we really are the musical offspring of all that's come before us ... paying homage to our past, but creating in a contemporary environment." Tony! Toni! Toné! took a hiatus as a group after the commercial and critical success of ''Sons of Soul''. According to vocalist and bassist Raphael Wiggins, each member had pursued individual music projects, and "the group was trying to figure out where everybody's time, space and head was at." He, D'wayne Wiggins, and Timothy Christian Riley worked on songwriting and production for other recording artists during the band's hiatus, including D'Angelo, En Vogue, Karyn White, Tevin Campbell, and A Tribe Called Quest. Raphael Wiggins adopted the surname "Saadiq" for his professional name in 1994—"man of his word" in Arabic—and released his solo single " Ask of You" in 1995. Their work outside the band led to rumors of a break-up during the time between albums. Tony! Toni! Toné! eventually regrouped and began recording ''House of Music'' in September 1995.

1996–1998: ''House of Music''

In 1996, the group released their final studio album to date, '' House of Music''. The album lacked the strong singles of earlier entries, only getting "Thinking Of You" & "Let's Get Down" into the top 10 on the R&B charts, with "Thinking Of You" hitting #22 on the Hot 100, though it eventually reached platinum status. '' House of Music'' expanded on Tony! Toni! Toné!'s previous traditional R&B-influenced work by emphasizing live instrumentation and ballads. In the opinion of '' Daily Herald'' writer Dan Kening, the album continued the band's mix of contemporary R&B and old-fashioned soul, deeming it "half a tribute to their '60s and '70s soul music roots and half a masterful blend of modern smooth balladeering and danceable funk." Released on November 19, 1996, ''House of Music'' reached number 32 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and spent 31 weeks on the chart. In its first eight weeks, the album sold 318,502 copies in the US. Tony! Toni! Toné! inaugurated its release with a satellite press conference and in-store performance at a small retail outlet in the

. They also embarked on a tour of

historically black college Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...

s and Black Independent Coalition record shops after " Let's Get Down" had been sent to R&B and crossover radio on October 28 as the album's lead single; its

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was released to outlets such as BET, The Box, and MTV. Tony! Toni! Toné! performed the song on the sketch comedy show '' All That''; on the music variety program '' Soul Train'', they performed "Let's Get Down" and "Annie May". "Thinking of You" was released as the second single on March 11, 1997, by which time ''House of Music'' had sold 514,000 copies, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

. On August 6, the album was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

by the

(RIAA). The single "Me & You" appears on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the motion picture '' Boyz n the Hood''. Following the release of '' Sons of Soul'', the group was a part of the R&B supergroup Black Men United, along with

Silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

and H-Town. The song "U Will Know" appeared on the soundtrack for the movie '' Jason's Lyric''.

Reunions

In 2003, members of Tony! Toni! Toné!, except for Saadiq, were invited by

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

to be guest artists on her album '' The Diary of Alicia Keys''. The song that resulted from that session was called "

Diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...

". Released as a single in the fall of 2004, it gave them their first Top 10 US hit in eleven years and a nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 2005 Grammy Awards. In 2023, the original lineup announced and engaged in a U.S. reunion tour, marking the band's thirtieth anniversary of their third release, ''Sons of Soul'', and their first tour in twenty-five years; that included their music catalogue and a few songs from Saadiq's solo career and production/songwriting repertoire. Before the tour, the group talked about recording a new album, but as of September 2024, Raphael Saadiq revealed to Rolling Stone Now podcast that plans for another album have been canceled, stating that the band members no longer feel the same about working on an album and he doesn't think there will be another reunion. D'Wayne Wiggins died from

bladder cancer Bladder cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the bladder. These cells can grow to form a tumor, which eventually spreads, damaging the bladder and other organs. Most people with bladder cancer are diagnosed after noticing blood in thei ...

on March 7, 2025.

Members

Current members

(1986–1997, 2019–present) * Timothy Christian Riley (1986–present)

Former members

* D'Wayne Wiggins (1986–2025; his death) * Amar Khalil (1998–2018)

Session musicians

* Elijah Baker (1986–1997) * Carl Wheeler (1986–1997) * Antron Haile (1986–1997) * Jubu Smith

Other endeavors

Raphael Saadiq released his first solo effort, the Top 20 ''

'' hit "Ask of You" for the '' Higher Learning'' soundtrack, in 1995. Around the same time, Saadiq became a much-sought-after R&B producer, scoring hits for D'Angelo,

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

, Total, The Roots, and others. Later in the 2000s, he started a solo career, releasing two albums: ''Instant Vintage'' (2002) and ''Ray Ray'' (2004). He was replaced by Amar Khalil in the band. Regarding changing his surname to 'Saadiq' for a solo career, in February 2009 Raphael stated to writer Pete Lewis of ''

Blues & Soul ''Blues & Soul'' is a British music magazine, established in 1967 by John Abbey. ''The Independent'' has noted ''Blues & Soul'' as being the equal of magazines such as ''NME'' and '' Q''. ''Billboard'' magazine has called ''Blues & Soul'' "a r ...

'': "I just wanted to have my own identity". Lucy Pearl was an R&B supergroup formed in 1999 as the brainchild of Saadiq. The other members of Lucy Pearl were Dawn Robinson ( En Vogue) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad ( A Tribe Called Quest). They released their self-titled debut album in 2000. After two singles, "Dance Tonight" and "Don't Mess with My Man", Robinson left and was replaced by Joi. The new line-up released the track "Without You". The group split up shortly afterwards, releasing no other material. In 2005, D'Wayne Wiggins became the bandleader for the '' Weekends at the D.L.'' television show, hosted by comedian D. L. Hughley, which aired on the

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

cable network until 2006. Wiggins' solo album ''Eyes Never Lie'' sold approximately 150,000 units.

Discography

Studio albums * '' Who?'' (1988) * '' The Revival'' (1990) * '' Sons of Soul'' (1993) * '' House of Music'' (1996)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tony! Toni! Tone! African-American musical groups American dance music groups American soul musical groups New jack swing music groups Mercury Records artists Musical groups from Oakland, California Musical groups established in 1986 1986 establishments in California Musical groups from the San Francisco Bay Area Progressive soul music groups Sibling musical groups