Raphael Saadiq

Originally, the band went by the name "Tony, Toni, Toné" as a joke, until they realized it "had a nice ring to it". Along with his groupwork and solo career, he has produced and written songs for other R&B artists, including Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Total, Earth, Wind & Fire, Joss Stone, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend. After touring with Prince, Sheila E. and Sheena Easton as a bassist in the mid-1980s, Saadiq co-founded Tony! He went on to release four albums—Who! (1988), The Revival (1990), Sons of Soul (1993), and House of Music (1996)—with the band before their indefinite hiatus. Prior to House of Music, Saadiq released his 1995 debut solo single, "Ask of You", for the soundtrack to the John Singleton film Higher Learning, and he formed the music production unit the Ummah (with D'Angelo, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and J Dilla). "Ask of You" peaked within the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and led him to briefly sign with the now-defunct Universal Records as a solo act. In 1999, he formed the supergroup Lucy Pearl with singer Dawn Robinson, as well as Ummah cohort Ali Shaheed Muhammad; the group's self-titled debut album (2000) was supported by the Hot 100-top 40 single "Dance Tonight", and served as their only project before disbanding in 2001. Saadiq has since released five solo albums, including the critically acclaimed Instant Vintage (2002), Ray Ray (2004), as well as the retro-styled The Way I See It (2008) and Stone Rollin (2011). The contemporary-sounding Jimmy Lee was released in 2019, and earned Saadiq further acclaim. Music critic Robert Christgau has called Saadiq the "preeminent R&B artist of the '90s". Saadiq has won three Grammy Awards for his songwriting work out of 22 nominations, as well as two Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Outside of music, Saadiq also co-founded the independent video game developer IllFonic in 2007, which has developed Friday the 13th: The Game (2017), Predator: Hunting Grounds (2020) and Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (2022), among other titles.

• Name — Raphael Saadiq • Birth Name — Charles Ray Wiggins • Born — 14 May 1966 • Birthplace — Oakland, California, U.S. • Instrument — * Vocals • piano • keyboards • synthesizer • guitar • bass guitar • Genre — * R&B • soul • progressive soul • hip hop • Occupation — * Singer • songwriter • multi-instrumentalist • record producer • Years Active — 1983–present • Label — * Columbia • Pookie • Universal • Current Member Of — Tony! Toni! Toné! • Past Member Of — * Lucy Pearl • The Ummah • Website — https: raphaelsaadiqmusic.com

Saadiq was born in Oakland, California, and was the second-youngest of 14 siblings. He attended Castlemont High School. He has had four siblings die at early ages. Saadiq states that he does not want his music to be reflective of the tragedies he experienced, saying that "And through all of that I was makin' records, but it wasn't comin' out in the music. I did it to kinda show people you can have some real tough things happen in your life, but you don't have to wear it on your sleeve." He has been playing the bass guitar since the age of six, and first began singing at age nine in a local gospel group. At the age of 12, he joined a group called "The Gospel Humminbirds". In 1984, shortly before his 18th birthday, Saadiq heard about tryouts in San Francisco for Sheila E.'s backing band on Prince's Parade Tour. At the audition, he chose the name "Raphael", and had difficulty remembering to respond to the name when he heard that he got the part to play bass in the band. He says of the experience, "Next thing I was in Tokyo, in a stadium, singin' Erotic City. We were in huge venues with the biggest sound systems in the world; all these roadies throwin' me basses, and a bunch of models hangin' round Prince to party. For almost two years. That was my university."

After returning to Oakland from touring with Prince, Saadiq began his professional career as the lead vocalist and bassist in the rhythm and blues and dance trio Tony! Toni! Toné! He used the name Raphael Wiggins while in Tony! Toni! Toné!, along with his brother Dwayne Wiggins, and his cousin Timothy Christian. In the mid-1990s, he adopted the last name Saadiq, which means "man of his word" in Arabic. His change of surname led many to speculate that he had converted to Islam at that point; in reality, Saadiq is not a Muslim, but rather just liked the way "Saadiq" sounded and changed his last name simply to distinguish himself from and avoid potential confusion with his brother, Dwayne Wiggins. As he confirmed by telling noted R&B writer Pete Lewis of Blues & Soul magazine in May 2009: "I just wanted to have my own identity!" In 1995, Saadiq had his biggest solo hit to date, when "Ask of You", featured on the Higher Learning Soundtrack peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart. In 1995, Saadiq produced and performed on Otis & Shug's debut album, We Can Do Whatever. Tony! Toni! Toné! would become major R&B superstars throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. However, after the 1996 album entitled House of Music failed to duplicate the group's previous success, Tony! Toni! Toné! went their separate ways in 1997.

In 1999, Saadiq's next big project became the R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl. He recorded the self-titled album with Dawn Robinson (En Vogue) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest). The group only lasted for one album. Also in 1999, he collaborated with rapper Q-Tip on the single "Get Involved", from the animated television series The PJs. It samples The Intruders' 1973 song "I'll Always Love My Mama" and charted at number 21 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. His 2000 song collaboration "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" won D'Angelo a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance; it was also nominated for Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. The song was ranked #4 on Rolling Stones "End of Year Critics & Readers Poll" of the top singles of 2000. D'Angelo's album Voodoo won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards. In 2002, Saadiq founded his own record label, Pookie Entertainment. Among the artists on the label are Joi and Truth Hurts. In 2002, he released his first solo album Instant Vintage, which earned him three Grammy Award nominations in addition to another two Grammy nominations for his writing work on “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)” the following year. He released a two-disc live album All the Hits at the House of Blues in 2003, and his second studio album Ray Ray in 2004, both on Pookie Entertainment.

In 2009, Saadiq announced his video game development company called IllFonic. The first video game in development by IllFonic was Ghetto Golf, with an expected release late in 2010. It was later cancelled. Several other titles have followed. In 2009, Saadiq teamed up Bentley Kyle Evans, Jeff Franklin, Martin Lawrence, and Trenten Gumbs to create a new sitcom called Love That Girl! starring Tatyana Ali. Raphael is an executive producer and composer for Love That Girl! The show airs on TV One and debuted on January 19, 2010. That same year, Saadiq performed The Spinners hit "It's A Shame" in a legendary Levi's commercial and sang as part of the chorus in the 2010 remake of "We Are the World" for Haiti.

• Illustration — Saadiq performing at South by Southwest in 2011, promoting Stone Rollin. In 2011, Saadiq was the guitarist/bandleader for the group backing Mick Jagger for Jagger's tribute performance of the Solomon Burke R&B classic, "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" at the 53rd Grammy Awards in Los Angeles and on CBS. The band that accompanied the performance was Saadiq's touring band called Stone Rollin. In 2011 he and his band performed as the ESPY's house band for the night, where he performed his latest compositions. Saadiq's 2011 album Stone Rollin was released to great critical acclaim. "He's always had a boyish enthusiasm for performing, and a flexible, naturally joyous voice that suggests a young Stevie Wonder," wrote Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune, "but with his latest album, Saadiq finds a new gear. The album and his current tour demonstrate that there's a big difference between retro and classic, and the artist consistently finds himself on the right side of that divide." Kot ranked the album number seven in his year-end list, in which he dubbed it Saadiq's "finest achievement" and stated, "He's always written songs steeped in soul and R&B, but now he gives them a progressive edge with roaming bass lines and haunted keyboard textures. He's no longer a retro stylist – he's writing new classics." Critic Jim Derogatis called it "a stone cold gas of a party disc." In the fall of 2011, he performed on the fourth results show of Dancing with the Stars season 13. In December 2011, he performed a cover compilation of several Neil Diamond songs at the Kennedy Center Honors award ceremony. In 2012 he signed a deal with Toyota to do a TV commercial for the Toyota Prius. In 2013 Raphael partnered with Bay Area/ Atlanta Production company EL Seven Entertainment/ Republic Records and then-new R&B singer Adrian Marcel and released his first promotional mixtape Raphael Saadiq Presents Adrian Marcel 7 Days of Weak. Saadiq is a featured bass guitar player on Elton John's 2013 album, The Diving Board. In 2016 he executive produced Solange Knowles' album, A Seat at the Table, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States. He also guest starred in Luke Cage, where he performs his songs "Good Man" and "Angel" at Harlem's Paradise. In 2017 he appeared in the award-winning documentary film The American Epic Sessions, directed by Bernard MacMahon, where he recorded the Memphis Jug Band's 1928 song "Stealin' Stealin'". live on the restored first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s. Of recording on the system he said, "it's amazing to just look at how it's built, you know just look at the machine itself. It just has this like magical sound the way that it's built. It's true. It's just the truest sound you could ever get". In 2017, Saadiq collaborated with Mary J. Blige as a songwriter for the movie Mudbound (2017), for which they both received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song. In 2018, he produced the John Legend holiday themed album, A Legendary Christmas. On August 23, 2019, Saadiq released his fifth album Jimmy Lee, to critical acclaim. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he released a song on his website called "Rony! Roni! Roné!", as a nod to his group "Tony! Toni! Toné!". In 2022, Saadiq collaborated on multiple songs from Brent Faiyaz's album Wasteland, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. Saadiq also collaborated with Beyoncé on her seventh and eighth studio albums Renaissance, for which he received two Grammy award nominations, and 2024's Cowboy Carter, for which he was nominated for four Grammys, winning Album of the Year as a songwriter.

Through the course of his career, Saadiq has often played Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster electric guitars.

In 2024, Fender announced a collaboration with Saadiq to produce a signature guitar model he designed to be available for purchase. The limited edition Raphael Saadiq Telecaster features a Dark Red Metallic finish, black binding, black headstock, custom acrylic pickguard, and custom Raphael Saadiq single-coil pickups. The model was designed with help from fellow musician Eric Gales, and aesthetically inspired by Saadiq's debut album, Instant Vintage.

• Instant Vintage (2002) • Ray Ray (2004) • The Way I See It (2008) • Stone Rollin (2011) • Jimmy Lee (2019)

• Who? (1988) • The Revival (1990) • Sons of Soul (1993) • House of Music (1996)

• Lucy Pearl (2000)

• "Ask of You" (1995) • "Can't Get Enough" (Duet with Willie Max, 1998) • "Get Involved" (Duet with Q-Tip, 1999) • "Be Here" (Duet with D'Angelo, 2002) • "Still Ray" (2002) • "Love That Girl" (2008) • "Never Give You Up" (With Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton, 2009) • "100 Yard Dash" (2009) • "Staying In Love" (2009) • "Something Keeps Calling" (2019)

• Title — Year — Artist — Album • "Midnight" — 1993 — A Tribe Called Quest — Midnight Marauders • "Stressed Out (Remix)" — 1996 — ATCQ, Faith Evans • "What They Do" — The Roots — Illadelph Halflife • "Jus Mee & U" — 1997 — Luniz — Lunitik Muzik • "Something Bout Yo Bidness" — 1999 — Snoop Dogg — No Limit Top Dogg • "Well" — 2000 — DJ Quik — Balance & Options • "Just a Man" — 2001 — Baby Boy soundtrack • 2002 — Devin the Dude — Just Tryin' ta Live • "Leave This Morning" — 2003 — Nappy Roots — Wooden Leather • "Glow" — Kelis — Tasty • "Take Me" — 2004 — Teedra Moses — Complex Simplicity • "Harvest for the World" — Kelvin Wooton — Isley Brothers: Taken to the Next Phase • "Ask of You" — 2005 — Mashonda — January Joy • "I Found My Everything" — Mary J. Blige — The Breakthrough • "Walk These Streets" — Warren G — In the Mid-Nite Hour • "Show Me the Way" — Earth, Wind and Fire — Illumination • "Coming Home" — Bizarre — Hannicap Circus • "We Get Down" — 2006 — Hi-Tek, Mos Def, Bootsy Collins — Hi-Teknology²: The Chip • "Waste of Time" — 2008 — Snoop Dogg — Ego Trippin • "Show You the World" — The Grouch — Show You the World • "We Fight/We Love" — Q-Tip — The Renaissance • "What Dudes Do" — 2009 — Chali 2na — Fish Outta Water • "Without You" — Dwele — Dwele • "All the Money in the World" — 2010 — Rick Ross — Teflon Don • "Heart Attack" — 2011 — Abduction (OST) • "Balmain Jeans" — 2014 — Kid Cudi — KiD CuDi presents SATELLITE FLIGHT: The journey to Mother Moon • "Soul Food" — Big K.R.I.T. — Cadillactica • "Gonna Miss You" — 2016 — Rapsody — Crown • "Hero" — Dame D.O.L.L.A. — The Letter O • "Apple of My Eye" — 2017 — Rick Ross — Rather You Than Me • "Bullets in the Street and Blood" — Cody Chestnutt — My Love Divine Degree • "Soul Sista Remix" — 2019 — Bilal — Queen & Slim (soundtrack) • "If It's Good" — 2020 — Insecure: Season 4 • "The Sun" — KYLE, Bryson Tiller — See You When I Am Famous • "Season Ticket Holder" — Rick Ross, D. Wade, Wale • "GOAT Spirit" — 2021 — Dame D.O.L.L.A. — Different on Levels the LORD Allowed • "No Wish" — 2023 — Black Milk, Phonte — Everybody Good? • "Crash" — 2025 — No ID, Saba, Kelly Rowland — From the Private Collection

• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 2017 — Best Original Song — "Mighty River" (from Mudbound) • 2025 — "I Lied to You" (from Sinners)

• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 2009 — BET Centric Award

• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • Primetime Emmy Awards • 2021 — Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score) — Lovecraft Country (Episode: "Rewind 1921") • 2026 — Outstanding Music Composition for a Documentary Series or Special (Original Dramatic Score) — High Horse: The Black Cowboy (Episode: "F*ck Westerns")

• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 2017 — Best Original Song — "Mighty River" (from Mudbound) • 2020 — "Tigress & Tweed" (from The United States vs. Billie Holiday) • 2025 — "I Lied to You" (from Sinners)

• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 1994 — Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "Anniversary" • Best Rhythm & Blues Song • 2001 — Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal — "Dance Tonight" • Best R&B Song — "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" • 2003 — Best Urban/Alternative Performance — "Be Here" (with D'Angelo) • Best R&B Song • "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop)" • Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media • Best R&B Album — Instant Vintage • 2005 — Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals — "Show Me the Way" (with Earth, Wind & Fire) • 2007 — Best Traditional R&B Performance — "I Found My Everything" (with Mary J. Blige) • 2009 — Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals — "Never Give You Up" (featuring Stevie Wonder and CJ Hilton) • Best R&B Album — The Way I See It • Best Traditional R&B Performance — "Love That Girl" • 2012 — "Good Man" • 2021 — Album of the Year — Donda • 2023 — Renaissance • Best R&B Song — "Cuff It" • 2025 — Album of the Year — Cowboy Carter • Record of the Year — "Texas Hold 'Em" • Song of the Year • Best Country Song • 2026 — Best Song Written for Visual Media — "I Lied to You" (from Sinners: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

• Year — Category — Nominated work — Result — Ref. • 2009 — Best Male R&B/Soul Artist • 2011 — Centric Award • 2016 — The Ashford & Simpson Songwriter's Award — "Cranes in the Sky"