Tony! Toni! Toné!

Tony! Toni! Toné! was an R&B group from Oakland, California popular from their formation in 1988 to the mid to late 1990s. It was composed of D'wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Wiggins (also known as Raphael Saadiq) on lead vocals and bass, and their cousin Timothy Christian Riley on drums. Other members were Elijah Baker, Carl Wheeler, Randall Wiggins, and Antron Haile.


History

Their first album was released in 1988 and was titled Who?. The album went gold and had several hit singles. The first of these, "Little Walter", went to #1 on the R&B charts. While none of the singles went gold, the next three singles, "Born Not to Know", "For the Love of You" and "Baby Doll" were all Top 10 R&B singles.

Firmly establishing themselves, the group's second album The Revival was released in 1990 and reached platinum status. The album spawned several #1 R&B hits with "It Never Rains", "Feels Good", and "Whatever You Want", all topping the R&B charts. "Feels Good" was the group's first single to breach the Top 10 of the Hot 100 and managed to go gold.

Furthering the group's success, they released their best selling album to date, Sons Of Soul, in 1993. The album went double platinum and had hit singles: "If I Had No Loot" which hit #7 on the Hot 100, "Anniversary" which reached #10 on the Hot 100, and "(Lay Your Head On My) Pillow" which reached #4 on the R&B charts.

In 1996, the group released their last album to date, House of Music. The album lacked the strong singles of earlier entries, only getting "Thinking Of You" into the top 10 on the R&B charts but the album still managed to go platinum.

Raphael Saadiq released his first solo effort, the Top 20 Billboard hit "Ask of You" from the Higher Learning soundtrack, in 1995. Around the same time, Saadiq became a much-sought-after R&B producer, scoring hits for D'Angelo, Total, The Roots and others. Later in the 2000s, he started a solo career, releasing two albums, Instant Vintage (2002) and Ray Ray (2004).

In 2003, most members of Tony! Toni! Toné! except for Saadiq were invited by Alicia Keys to guest on her album The Diary of Alicia Keys. The song that resulted from that session was called "Diary", and when it was released as a single in the fall of 2004, it gave them their first Top 10 US hit in eleven years. In 2005, Dwayne Wiggins became the band leader for the Weekends at the D.L. television show hosted by comedian D. L. Hughley, which airs on the Comedy Central cable network.

In 2006, the group reunited for the New Jack Reunion Tour, running throughout the U.S.