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Biography
Infobox musical artist |name = Tony& #33; Toni& #33; Toné!|image =|caption = Clockwise from top: D'wayne Wiggins , Timothy Christian Riley and Raphael Saadiq|Charles Ray Wiggins , collectively known as Tony& #33; Toni& #33; Toné!|background = group_or_band|origin = Oakland, California , United States |genre = Rhythm and blues|R& B , Soul music|Soul , Neo Soul , New jack swing |years_active = 1988–1997 2003–present|label = Grass Roots Entertainment Wing/ Mercury Records |associated_acts = Lucy Pearl , joi (singer)|Joi |website =|current_members = D'wayne Wiggins Timothy Christian Riley Raphael Saadiq Elijah Baker Carl Wheeler Amar Khalil |past_members = Ben Hale Randal Wiggins Antron Haile Tony& #33; Toni& #33; Toné! is an United States|American Soul music|Soul / R& B band (music)|group 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 (born Charles Ray Wiggins) on lead vocals and bass (instrument)|bass , and their cousin Timothy Christian Riley on drum s. Other members were Elijah Baker, Carl Wheeler, Randall Wiggins, and Amar Khalil, who is the current lead singer of the group, and Antron Haile.
The group's name is derived from Andy García 's portrayal of an Italian American sharpshooter in The Untouchables (film)|The Untouchables . In high school, a friend of D'wayne Wiggins joked that the teacher would call him "Tony, Tony, Tony" if they saw the way he was dressed. Originally, the band went by "Tony, Tony, Tony" as a joke, until they realized it had a nice ring to it. http://watch.muchmusic.com/specials/ota-live/#clip123632 Specials : OTA Live : Raphael Saadiq (Live Interview) 1/4
History
Their first album, Who? (album)|Who? ,produced and co written by Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, was released in 1988. The album went gold record|gold and had several hit singles. The first of these, " Little Walter (song)|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.
The group's second album The Revival was released in 1990 and reached RIAA certification|platinum status. The album spawned several #1 R& B hits with "It Never Rains In Southern California", " Feels Good ", " The Blues (song)|The Blues ", and " Whatever You Want (Tony& #33; Toni& #33; Tone& #33; song)|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.
The single "Me & You" appears on the Boyz n the Hood (soundtrack)|soundtrack to the motion picture Boyz n the Hood .
Furthering the group's success, they released their third studio album to date, Sons of Soul , in 1993. The album went RIAA certification|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.
Following the release of Sons of Soul , the group was a part of the R& B supergroup Black Men United , Silk (group)|Silk and H-Town (band)|H-Town was included in the group as well with the song "U Will Know" which appeared on the soundtrack for the movie '' Jason's Lyric .
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. The album still managed to reach platinum status.
Tony& #33; Toni& #33; Toné!, with Amar Khalil singing lead vocals (in place of Saadiq), has been touring since late 1998.
Other endeavors
Raphael Saadiq released his first solo effort, the Top 20 Billboard (magazine)|Billboard hit "Ask of You" for the Higher Learning soundtrack, in 1995. Around the same time, Saadiq became a much-sought-after R& B record producer|producer , scoring hits for D'Angelo , Total (band)|Total , The Roots , and others. Later in the 2000s, he started a solo career, releasing two albums, Instant Vintage (2002) and Ray Ray (2004). Regarding changing his surname to 'Saadiq' for a solo career, in February 2009 Raphael stated to noted UK R& B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul : "I just wanted to have my own identity". http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/409/raphael_saadiq_this_years_vintage/ Raphael Saadiq interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' May 2009
Lucy Pearl was an R& B supergroup (music)|supergroup formed in 1999 as the brainchild of Raphael 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", Dawn Robinson left and was replaced by Joi. The new line-up released the track "Without You". The group split up shortly after, releasing no other material.
In 2005, D'wayne Wiggins became the band leader for the Weekends at the D.L. television show hosted by comedian D. L. Hughley , which aired on the Comedy Central cable network until 2006.
D'wayne Wiggins solo album, Eyes Never Lie , was a disappointment only selling approximately 150,000 units despite its acclaim as some of the most innovative writing and artistry from the Tony's founder.Citation needed|date=December 2010 A recent episode of Saturday Night Live featured a skit which mentioned a fictional New Jack Swing Supergroup named Tone, Toni, Tony Shalhoub .
Personal life
D'wayne Wiggins is married to the previous owner of an Oakland coffee shop, Jahva House. Together they have three children.
Reunions
In 2003, members of Tony& #33; Toni& #33; Toné!, except for Saadiq, were invited by Alicia Keys to be guest artists 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.
"& mdash;" denotes the single failed to or did not chart
See also
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
References
Reflist
External links
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p132291
imdb name|id=0927775|name=Dwayne P. Wiggins
Raphael Saadiq DEFAULTSORT:Tony& #33; Toni& #33; Tone! Category:American dance music groups Category:American rhythm and blues musical groups Category:American soul musical groups Category:American boy bands Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Music of the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Neo soul singers Category:People from Oakland, California Category:Musical groups established in 1988
