Raphael Saadiq
(born Charlie Ray Wiggins
May 14, 1967, Oakland, California), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Saadiq's latest critically acclaimed masterpiece, 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 voted Best Album on iTunes of 2008
. The Way I See It
represents the finest example to-date of Raphael's downtown sound, emulating the sound and flavor of ’60s soul music, delivering a masterful homage to a bygone era of feel-good rhythm and blues.
Raphael 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! The multi-talented Oakland, California native is an award-winning producer of such artists as Joss Stone, D' Angelo, Mary J Blige, and John Legend.
Saadiq has been playing the bass guitar since the age of six. He first began singing at age 12 with a group called "The Gospel Humminbirds". After high school, Saadiq joined Prince and Sheila E. on the Parade Tour.
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RAPHAEL SAADIQ TICKETS
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Career
Solo work
The Way I See It
Saadiq's latest release, his 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, is a masterful blend of old and new school sensibilities, which 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.
The Way I See It
, was named iTunes #1 Best Album of 2008
, with an average customer rating of four-and-a-half-stars, The Way I See It is praised in an iTunes online review for "inhabit(ing) the atmosphere of late-Sixties Motown and Philadelphia International, incorporating the distinctly echo-laden drum shuffles of Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, as well as the swelling string choruses of the Delfonics and the Stylistics….music pours from this performer as easily as it did from Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder before him."
NPR's "World Café"
chose The Way I See It
as one of 2008's Top 10 CD's
, as well as many other critics ranking The Way I See It
as one of the Best albums of 2008.
ABC News
– The Best Albums Of 2008
USA Today
- Critic's Picks Of 2008
New York Times
- Top Songs “100 Yard Dash”
Los Angeles Times
- Most Memorable Of 2008
The Wall Street Journal
- Best Of 2008
L Magazine
– The 25 Best Albums Of 2008
Blender Magazine
- The 33 Best Albums Of 2008
Time Out Ny Magazine
- The Best Of 2008
Rolling Stone Magazine
- Best Of 2008 Albums Of The Year
Billboard Critics
- Top 10's of 2008
Though his latest album The Way I See It was released back in September 2008, Saadiq still is touring and promoting the project non-stop, while crossing over many music formats and reaching new demographics of fans with every performance. Saadiq, touring with a nine piece band, hit the summer music festival circuit with performances at Bonnaroo
, Hollywood Bowl, Outside Lands, Pori Jazz Festival, Stockholm Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz, Essence Music Festival, Summer Spirit Festival, Nice Jazz Festival
. Upcoming appearances include Bumbershoot Music Festival
and Austin City Limits
. Saadiq has been touring Europe and UK extensively, and held a five-night residency at the House of Blues in Tokyo, Japan in June 2009.
Music from
The Way I See It featured in the following motion pictures:
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes To Jail, Bride Wars, Cadillac Records, Secret Life of Bees, In Fighting (Rogue).
Ray Ray
Released
Ray Ray
in 2004 on his own record label Pookie Entertainment.
All The Hits At The House of Blues (LIVE)
Released 2 disc live album
All The Hits AT The House of Blues (Live)
in 2004 on his own record label Pookie Entertainment.
Instant Vintage
He released his first solo album
Instant Vintage
in 2002 and earned 5 Grammy nominations.
Ask Of You (Single)
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 1997, Saadiq hooked up with
EPMD for the tune "Da Joint." Two years later, he teamed up with
Q-Tip for another minor hit, "Get Involved," which was featured on the animated TV series,
The PJs
(see also
The PJs: Music from & Inspired by the Hit Television Series
).
Lucy Pearl
He produced a few solo tracks, but 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). This group only lasted for one album.
Tony! Toni! Toné!
Saadiq began his professional career as the lead vocalist and bassplayer in the
rhythm and blues and dance trio
Tony! Toni! Toné!. He used the name Raphael Wiggins while in Tony! Toni! Toné!, where he was joined by his brother
Dwayne Wiggins, and his cousin Timothy Christian. He
adopted the name of Raphael Saadiq in the mid-1990s. 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.
[1]
Tony! Toni! Toné would become major
R&B superstars throughout the late-
1980s and
1990s. However, after the 1996 album entitled
House of Music
, which did produce several hits, nonetheless failed to duplicate previous success, Tony! Toni! Toné! went their separate ways.
Music Producer
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 [2]. The song was ranked #4 on ''
Rolling Stones "End of Year Critics & Readers Poll" of the top singles of 2000 [3]. D'Angelo's album
Voodo'' won a
Grammy Award for Best R&B Album at the
2001 Grammy Awards.
In 2004, Saadiq produced a remix of the song "Crooked Nigga Too" by the late
Tupac Shakur which is featured on the album
Loyal To The Game
.
In 2007, Saadiq had produced
Introducing Joss Stone
, the third album of British soul singer
Joss Stone.
He produced songs for
LeToya Luckett's forthcoming second album
Lady Love
, set for release August 2009.
Thus far in 2009, Saadiq produced "Please Stay" & "Love Never Changes " for
Ledisi's August 2009 release "
Turn Me Loose"
Saadiq also executive produced an emerging group called
Tha Boogie, their first EP released on iTunes titled "
Love Tha Boogie, Vol. 1 (Steal This Sh*t).
Other artists he has collaborated with include
Whitney Houston,
Mary J. Blige,
The Isley Brothers,
Teedra Moses,
The Roots,
Erykah Badu,
Jill Scott,
Macy Gray,
Angie Stone,
Snoop Dogg,
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,
Floetry,
Leela James,
Amp Fiddler,
John Legend,
Joss Stone, Young Bellz,
Anthony Hamilton,
Babyface,
Ledisi,
Goapele,
Ginuwine,
Stevie Wonder,
Earth, Wind & Fire,
Bilal, as well as many others.
Other
In 2002, Saadiq founded his own record label,
Pookie Entertainment. Among the artists on the label are
Joi and
Truth Hurts.
On
April 13,
2007, Saadiq just played the role of Anthony Hayes from
Disturbia
.
In 2008 Saadiq formed a new label called Velma Records, a place where Raphael 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".
[4]
Discography
- Instant Vintage
(2002)
- All Hits at the House of Blues
(2003)
- Ray Ray
(2004)
- The Way I See It
(2008)
'''==Singles==
Year
| Song
| Chart positions
| Album
|
U.S. Hot 100
| U.S. R&B
| U.S. Adult R&B
| U.K.
|
1995
| "Ask of You"
| 19
| 2
| —
| 76
| Higher Learning OST
|
1999
| "Get Involved" (feat. Q-Tip)
| 67
| 21
| —
| 36
| The P.J.'s OST
|
2002
| "Be Here" (feat. D'Angelo)
| 99
| 68
| —
| —
| Instant Vintage
|
"Still Ray"
| —
| 79
| —
| —
|
2004
| "Rifle Love" (feat. Lucy Pearl & Tony! Toni! Toné!)
| —
| —
| —
| —
| Ray Ray
|
"Chic Like You" (feat. Allie Baba)
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
2005
| "I Want You Back" (feat. Teedra Moses)
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
2008
| "Love That Girl"
| —
| 45
| 13
| —
| The Way I See It
|
"Big Easy" (feat. The Infamous Young Spodie & The Rebirth Brass Band)
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
2009
| "100 Yard Dash"
| —
| 125
| —
| —
|
"Never Give You Up" (feat. Stevie Wonder & CJ Hilton)
| —
| 26
| 4
| —
|
"Let's Take a Walk"
| TBR
| —
|
"—" denotes the single failed to chart or wasn't released.
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See also
- Tony! Toni! Toné!
- Lucy Pearl
- Teedra Moses
- The Ummah
- Q-Tip
References
- Raphael Saadiq 2008 Interview
- Tower.com: Voodoo (EXPLICIT) (CD) by D'Angelo (Artist) Music. Tower.com. Retrieved on 2008-08-08.
- Rolling Stone End of year Critic & Readers lists. www.rocklist.net. Retrieved on 2008-08-08.
- Exclusive UK Interview "''Raphael Saadiq talks to Soul Jones''"