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Raphael Saadiq (/səˈdiːk/; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for 'old school' R&B since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He has also produced songs for such artists as Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend.

He and D'Angelo were occasional members of The Ummah, a music production collective, composed of members Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, and J Dilla of the Detroit-based group Slum Village. He is also a co-founder of independent video game developerIllFonic, which developed Friday the 13th: The Game.

Saadiq's critically acclaimed album, The Way I See It, released on September 16, 2008, featuring artists Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone, and Jay-Z, received three Grammy Award nominations and was voted Best Album on iTunes of 2008. His fourth studio album, Stone Rollin', was released on March 25, 2011.^[1] For the album, Saadiq worked with steel guitarist Robert Randolph; former Earth, Wind & Fire keyboardist Larry Dunn; Swedish-Japanese indie rock singer Yukimi Nagano (of Little Dragon fame); funk artist Larry Graham (on the bonus cut 'Perfect Storm')^[2] and soul newcomer Taura 'Aura Jackson' Stinson.^[3][4]

Music critic Robert Christgau has called Saadiq the 'preeminent R&B artist of the '90s'.^[5]

• 2Career
• 3Discography

Early life[edit]

Saadiq was born in Oakland, California, the second-youngest of 14 siblings and half-siblings.^[3] His early life was marked by tragedy; he experienced the deaths of several of his siblings as a young child. When Saadiq was seven years old, one brother was murdered. One of his brothers overdosed on heroin and another committed suicide because he was unable to deal with his addiction to the drug. His sister died as a result of a car crash during a police chase in a residential neighborhood. 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.'^[3]

He has been playing the bass guitar since the age of six,^[2] and first began singing at age nine in a local gospel group.^[6][7] 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.^[3] 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.'^[3]

Career[edit]

1987–1999: Tony! Toni! Toné! and The Ummah[edit]

– Ken Tucker, NPR^[8]

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.^[3] 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.^[9] As he confirmed by telling noted R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning 'Blues & Soul' in May 2009, 'I just wanted to have my own identity!'^[10]

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.

1999–2004: Lucy Pearl and first string of solo albums[edit]

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.^[11]

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.^[12] The song was ranked #4 on Rolling Stone's 'End of Year Critics & Readers Poll' of the top singles of 2000.^[13] 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 five Grammy Award nominations. 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.

2004–2010: Expanded output and second string of albums[edit]

In 2004, Saadiq produced a remix of the song 'Crooked Nigga Too' by Tupac Shakur which is featured on the album Loyal to the Game. Other artists he has collaborated with include Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, The Isley Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Teedra Moses, The Roots, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Macy Gray, Angie Stone, Snoop Dogg, Mac Dre, Devin the Dude, DJ Quik, Kelis, Q-Tip, Lil' Skeeter, Ludacris, The Bee Gees, Musiq Soulchild, Jaguar Wright, Chanté Moore, Lionel Richie, Marcus Miller, Noel Gourdin, Nappy Roots, Calvin Richardson, T-Boz from TLC, Jody Watley, Floetry, Leela James, Amp Fiddler, John Legend, Joss Stone, Young Bellz, Anthony Hamilton, Babyface, Ledisi, Goapele, Ghostface Killah, —Ginuwine, The GrouchStevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bilal, Chali 2na, Larry Graham,^[2]Luniz as well as many others. In 2007, Saadiq produced Introducing Joss Stone, the third album of British soul singer Joss Stone. According to J. Gabriel Boylan of The New York Observer, 'he's produced artists including Macy Gray, the Roots, D'Angelo, John Legend, Whitney Houston, Mary J. Blige, and more. With all of them he's pushed a classic aesthetic, heavy on organic sounds and light on studio magic, deeply indebted to the past and distrustful of easy formulas.'^[14]

Saadiq's third solo album, The Way I See It, released on Columbia Records on September 16, 2008, available in a collector's edition box set of 7' 45 rpm singles as well as on traditional CD, was critically well-received, made several critics' 2008 best albums lists, and garnered three Grammy nominations including Best R&B Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocals (for 'Never Give You Up', featuring Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton); Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance (for 'Love That Girl') and Best R&B Album for The Way I See It. Music from The Way I See It was featured in the following motion pictures: Madea Goes To Jail, Bride Wars, Cadillac Records, Secret Life of Bees, In Fighting (Rogue), and It's Complicated.

Touring with a nine piece band, Saadiq hit the 2009 summer music festival circuit with performances at Bonnaroo, Hollywood Bowl, Outside Lands, Pori Jazz, Stockholm Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz, Essence Music Festival, Summer Spirit Festival, and Nice Jazz Festival, Bumbershoot Music Festival and Austin City Limits. Saadiq has been touring Europe extensively, and held a five-night residency at the House of Blues in Tokyo, Japan, in June 2009. In 2008, Saadiq formed a new label called Velma Records, a place where he promises 'people can express themselves like I did with The Way I See It.. where they can dream something up and just go with it'.^[15]

He produced songs for LeToya Luckett's forthcoming second album Lady Love, released August 2009. In 2009, Saadiq produced 'Please Stay' and 'Love Never Changes' for Ledisi's August 2009 release 'Turn Me Loose'. Saadiq also was the executive producer for an emerging group called Tha Boogie. Tha Boogie's first EP was released on iTunes and is titled Love Tha Boogie, Vol. 1 (Steal This Sh*t).

In 2009, Saadiq announced his video game development company called IllFonic. The first video game in development by IllFonic is titled Ghetto Golf, with an expected release late in 2010. 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.

2011–present: Stone Rollin'[edit]

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.^[16] 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.^[17][18][19] '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.'^[20] 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.'^[21] Critic Jim Derogatis called it 'a stone cold gas of a party disc.'^[22]

In fall 2011, he performed on the fourth results show of Dancing with the Starsseason 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 new R&B Superstar Adrian Marcel and released his 1st promotional mixtape 'Raphael Saadiq Presents Adrian Marcel 7 Days of Weak'.

Download xforce keygen autocad 2012. 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 #1 on music charts 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’”^[23] live on the restored first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s.^[24] 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.”^[25]

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.^[26]

In 2018, he produced the John Legend holiday themed album, A Legendary Christmas.

Discography[edit]

Studio albums[edit]

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

with Tony! Toni! Toné![edit]

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

with Lucy Pearl[edit]

• Lucy Pearl (2000)

Awards[edit]

See also[edit]

• IllFonic, an independent video game developer of which Saadiq was a co-founder.

References[edit]

1. ^Steffen Hung. 'Raphael Saadiq – Stone Rollin''. austriancharts.at. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
2. ^ ^abcJones, Soul (June 13, 2011). 'Soul Jones Words: Like A Rolling Stone – Raphael Saadiq Interview (Featuring Rob Fonksta Bacon, Taura Stinson & Chuck Brungardt)'. Souljoneswords.blogspot.com. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
3. ^ ^abcdefBatey, Angus (April 24, 2009). 'One step back, two steps forward'. The Guardian. London. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
4. ^'Raphael Saadiq: Putting the cool in ol' skool'. Bluesandsoul.com. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
5. ^Christgau, Robert (October 2008). 'Raphael Saadiq: The Way I See It'. Blender. Alpha Media Group. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
6. ^Perry, Clayton (November 27, 2008). 'Interview: Raphael Saadiq – Singer, Songwriter and Producer'. Blog Critics. Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
7. ^Buskin, Richard (June 2009). 'Raphael Saadiq: Producing The Way I See It'. Sound on Sound. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
8. ^Bianculli, David; Tucker, Ken (October 10, 2008). 'Saadiq Revisits R&B Past In 'The Way I See It''. Fresh Air. NPR. WHYY-FM. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Transcript. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
9. ^Lorez, Jeff. 'Raphael Saadiq 2008 Interview'. SoulMusic.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved September 27, 2008.
10. ^Lewis, Pete. 'This Year's Vintage – Pete Lewis Interviews Raphael Saadiq'. Blues & Soul. Blues & Soul. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
11. ^Whitburn, Joel (December 1, 2004). Top R and B/Hip-Hop Singles, 1942–2004 (5, illustrated ed.). Record Research Inc. p. 507. ISBN0-89820-160-8.
12. ^'Music: Voodoo (CD) by D'Angelo (Artist), 106263815'. Tower.com. January 25, 2000. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
13. ^'Rocklist.net Rolling Stone (USA) End of Year Lists'. Rocklistmusic.co.uk. Archived from the original on July 23, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
14. ^Boylan, J. Gabriel (September 2008). 'Who Will Save R&B?'. The New York Observer. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
15. ^Jones, Soul (May 15, 2011). 'Soul Jones Words: Innervisions – Raphael Saadiq Interview'. Souljoneswords.blogspot.com. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
16. ^'Mick Jagger Added To GRAMMY Lineup'. grammy.com. National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. February 3, 2011. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
17. ^'The Official Raphael Saadiq Site'. Raphael Saadiq. Archived from the original on January 9, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
18. ^Myers, Gina. 'Motown Revival – A Review of Raphael Saadiq's Stone Rollin''. Frontier Psychiatrist. Archived from the original on May 13, 2011. Retrieved May 10, 2011.
19. ^Bentley, Jason. 'First Listen: Raphael Saadiq, 'Stone Rollin'. NPR. Retrieved May 13, 2011.
20. ^'Concert review: Raphael Saadiq at Park West'. Chicago Tribune. June 4, 2011.
21. ^Kot, Greg (December 2, 2011). 'Top albums of 2011; Wild Flag top album of 2011'. Chicago Tribune. Tribune Company. Retrieved December 25, 2011.
22. ^'Album review: Raphael Saadiq, 'Stone Rollin' (Columbia)'. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011.
23. ^'American Epic Sessions interviewees & performers'(PDF). Thirteen.org. 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
24. ^'American Epic: The Collection & The Soundtrack Out May 12th Legacy Recordings'. Legacy Recordings. April 28, 2017. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
25. ^Arena, B. B. C. (June 8, 2017). ''The truest sound you could ever get' - @RaphaelSaadiq performs for @AmericanEpic THE SESSIONS'. @BBC_Arena. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
26. ^Aswad, Jem (February 23, 2018). 'Raphael Saadiq on His Oscar-Nominated 'Mudbound' Song, Working With Mary J. Blige and Declining Prince's Record Deal'. Variety. Retrieved May 21, 2018.

External links[edit]

• Raphael Saadiq on IMDb
• The Stone Rollin' Sessions Interview With Raphael Saadiq, co-producer Chuck Brungardt, Taura Stinson & Ron Fonksa Bacon on Soul Jones (July 2011)
• Interview of Raphael Saadiq on SoulRnB.com (June 2011)

Biography

Born Raphael Wiggins in Oakland, California, on 14 May 1966, Raphael Saadiq grew fond of music since his early childhood years. Aged six, he learned how to play bass and began performing at church, school and community events. It was the time when the young boy made up his mind to become a professional musician. Finishing high school, he was chosen as bassist to play for Prince during his international touring. After that, Raphael assembled his own band entitled Tony! Toni! Tone! They released their debut album Who? in 1988. The first single, Little Walter, featured a mix of new wave soul and still evolving rap, and topped the R&B charts. Raphael and his group spent the following years steadily perfecting their skills on stage and in studio. Saadiq utilized heavily the experience he gained while touring with Prince which was of a great help to work in his team. The result of their hard labor was the sophomore studio work The Revival (1990). Supported with the brilliant singles It Feels Good, and It Never Rains in Southern California, this album became a great seller distributing six million copies.

Amidst the highlights of Tony! Toni! Tone!, Saadiq began working on his own projects. He took part in making soundtracks to the then famed movies Higher Learning, and Boyz in the Hood. Despite the two other releases by Tony! Toni! Tone!, Sons of Soul (1993), and House of Music (1996), Saadiq grew bigger than the band and decided to quit. Shortly after, he formed another band, Lucy Pearl. It released the 2000 self-titled album to have good responses. However, it was the first and the last release by the group as it soon collapsed due to personal, creative and financial differences. Following the Lucy Pearl period, Saadiq released his first solo album, Instant Vintage (2002). It earned him five Grammy nominations and recognition of both audience and critics. The artist revealed all his many faceted talent acting as a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Feeding his music with classic soul music and modern hip-hop, he presented an original type of material sounding fresh and unusual. Nevertheless, this long player appeared a commercial flop which put an end to the relations between Raphael and Universal Records. Saadiq went to work on his own label Pookie Records and released Ray Ray (2004). He finally fulfilled his old plans to launch a sound recording company to produce albums by other performers.

Having a good reputation of a successful musician, Raphael Saadiq became even a more prominent producer to make a significant contribution to the contemporary music. Since the mid nineties, he began his massive work on promoting young talents in neo-soul. He achieved the best results with the American artist D’Angelo. Their cooperation resulted in the 1995 single Lady nominated for Grammy. In a blink of an eye, Raphael Saadiq became of the most respectable producers making each of his projects an outstanding event. In September 2008, he released his third solo album, The Way I See It, recorded in collaboration with Stevie Wonder and Joss Stone.

Studio Albums

Stone Rollin'