We don’t know what you came to do, but we came to party with Tony! Toni! Tone!! This sensation provided many classics for the 90s both collectively and individually during their run. Tony! Toni! Tone! was the perfect blend of 80s and 90s music with their slow jams and hype grooves.
The group originally started with seven members including Elijah Baker, Carl Wheeler, Randall Wiggins, Antron Haile, Raphael Saadiq, D’ Wayne Wiggins, and Timothy Riley. The other members are not mentioned enough but as we are celebrating this group, we want to make sure everyone gets credit for this dope group. They eventually broke down to three members Saadiq, Wiggins, and Riley.
Raphael and D’ Wayne are brothers who are the sons of a guitar player who played in a blues band. These brothers along with Timothy knew their way around music and we were sure to find out. The name “Tony! Toni! Tone!” was a joke the group made to express their style in music and fashion and it stuck. They played their own instruments behind their vocals giving that classic rhythm and blues sound.
Their most acclaimed album is The Revival. This album produced “Feels Good”, “It Never Rains (In Southern California)”, “Whatever You Want” and many more. They produced this album themselves by way of Wings Records. After their glide to fame, they made appearances on the big screen for House Party 2 with Kid N’ Play and contributed to soundtracks for Boyz N the Hood, Poetic Justice, as well as House Party 2. The trio knew how to set a party off no matter the mood or setting. We are willing to bet that every time an anniversary pops up, you sing “Do you know what today is?” “Anniversary” is a classic call to memory just by the mere mentioning of the word.
The group took a hiatus after their album Sons of Soul to pursue their own careers, like many groups. Raphael Saadiq became a most-sought-after artist for music production and songwriting. He had some success with his own projects as well. He and his brother D’Wayne wrote songs for artists such as Tevin Campbell, En Vogue, A Tribe Called Quest and a few other crowd favorites.
Tony! Toni! Tone! definitely made feel good music to add to our mixtapes. This trio has hits for days and some that will never cease to exist in our memory. These brothers were more than live… they were funky, indeed!