Tony! Toni! Tone!
It was a family affair with this group. Brothers D’Wayne Wiggins and Raphael Saadiq formed a group with cousin Timothy Christian and made music magic together. True musicians, the Oakland, California natives showcased their skills on the keys, guitar, bass, drums, and of course vocals on their 1998 debut Who? They reigned in the early to mid 90s releasing one successful album after another with their third album Sons of Soul reaching double platinum in the U.S. The group released one more studio album House of Music, which received praise from critics and went platinum.
After their fourth album the group members shifted a bit. Raphel Saadiq left and embarked onto other endeavors. He’s done successful solo work, produced for soulful artists like John Legend, D’Angelo, Joss Stone, Mary J. Blige, and TLC, and even for a brief moment was in another group Lucy Pearl with former En Vogue member Dawn Robinson and A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad. He’s produced and written countless Grammy nominated and winning songs like D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does it Feel),” which won for Best Male R&B Performance Erykah Badu’s “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop),” for Best R&B Song. His solo work has also been highly regarded and nominated by the Grammys. His latest work was his 2011 album Stone Rollin’.
As for his brother D’Wayne Wiggins and Timonth Christian. They stayed loyal to the group.They replaced Saadiq with member Amar Khalil in 1998 and have been touring since. They were featured on Alicia Key’s The Diary of Alicia Keys on the song “Diary,” which gave them their first U.S. Top Ten single in over a decade.
