Videos: Tony! Toni! Toné!

Born Not To Know

Feels Good

It Never Rains

Let's Get Down

Thinking Of You

Whatever You Want

Tony! Toni! Toné! is an American Soul/R&B 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, and their cousin Timothy Christian Riley on drums. 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. 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.

Their first album, Who?, was released in 1988. 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.

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 In Southern California", "Feels Good", "The Blues", 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.

The single "Me & You" appears on the 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 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 and 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! Toni! Toné!, with Amar Khalil singing lead vocals (in place of Saadiq), has been touring since late 1998.
[edit] Other endeavors

Raphael Saadiq released his first solo effort, the Top 20 Billboard 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, 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".[2]

Lucy Pearl was an R&B 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 airs on the Comedy Central cable network.

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]
[edit] Personal life

D'wayne Wiggins is married to the previous owner of an Oakland coffee shop, Jahva House. Together they have three children.
[edit] Reunions

In 2003, 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.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
[edit] Studio albums
Year Album Chart positions[3][4] US
certifications[5] Record label
US US
R&B UK
1988 Who? 69 14 — Gold Wing/Mercury
1990 The Revival 34 4 — Platinum
1993 Sons of Soul 24 3 66 2x Platinum Mercury
1996 House of Music 32 10 — Platinum
"—" denotes the album failed to chart or was not certified
[edit] Compilation albums
Year Album Chart positions[3]
US US
R&B
1997 Hits — 54
2001 The Millennium Collection: The Best of Tony! Toni! Toné! — —
"—" denotes the album failed to chart
[edit] Singles
Year Title Chart positions[3][4] Album
US US
R&B US
Dance UK
1988 "Little Walter" 47 1 43 — Who?
" Born Not to Know" — 4 — —
" Baby Doll" — 5 44 —
1989 "For the Love of You" — 6 — —
1990 "The Blues" 46 1 43 92 The Revival
" Feels Good" 9 1 3 85
" Oakland Stroke" (feat. Vanessa L. Williams) — — — 50
" It Never Rains (In Southern California)" 34 1 — 69
1991 "Whatever You Want" 48 1 — —
" House Party II (I Don't Know What You Come to Do)" — 19 — — House Party II
" Me and You" — 27 — — Boyz n the Hood
1993 "If I Had No Loot" 7 8 45 44 Sons of Soul
" Anniversary" 10 2 — —
1994 "(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow" 31 4 — —
" Leavin" 82 41 — —
" Slow Wine" 107 21 — —
" My Ex-Girlfriend" — — — —
1996 "Let's Get Down" (feat. DJ Quik) 30 5 — 33 House of Music
1997 "Thinking of You" 22 — —
" Boys and Girls" — 52 — —
2004 "Diary" (with Alicia Keys) 8 2 1 — The Diary of Alicia Keys