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Raphael Saadiq
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Raphael Saadiq | |
|---|---|
 Saadiq at the 2012 Time 100 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Charles Ray Wiggins |
| Born | May 14, 1966 Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | |
| Member of | Tony! Toni! Toné! |
| Formerly of | |
| Website | raphaelsaadiqmusic |
Raphael Saadiq (/səˈdiːk/; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to fame as a vocalist for the R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné!, which he formed with his brother D'Wayne and cousin Timothy Christian Riley in 1986. Along with his groupwork and solo career, he has produced and written songs for other R&B artists, including Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Total, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend.
Saadiq released four albums—Who! (1988), The Revival (1990), Sons of Soul (1993), and House of Music (1996)—with the group before their indefinite hiatus. Prior to the latter, he formed the music production unit the Ummah (with D'Angelo, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and J Dilla) and released his 1995 debut solo single, "Ask of You", for the soundtrack to the John Singleton film Higher Learning. In 1999, he formed the supergroup Lucy Pearl with fellow singers Joi and Dawn Robinson, as well as Ummah cohort Ali Shaheed Muhammad; the group's self-titled debut album (2000) was supported by the Billboard Hot 100-top 40 single "Dance Tonight", and served as their only project before disbanding in 2001. Additionally, "Ask of You" peaked within the top 20 of the chart and led him to sign with the now-defunct Universal Records as a solo act.
He has since released five solo albums, including the critically acclaimed, retro-styled The Way I See It (2008) and Stone Rollin' (2011). The contemporary-sounding Jimmy Lee was released in 2019, and earned Saadiq further acclaim.[4]
Music critic Robert Christgau has called Saadiq the "preeminent R&B artist of the '90s".[1] Saadiq has won two Grammy Awards for his songwriting work, as well as two Golden Globe Award nominations and an Academy Award nomination. Outside of music, Saadiq also co-founded the independent video game developer IllFonic in 2007, which has developed Friday the 13th: The Game (2017), Predator: Hunting Grounds (2020) and Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed (2022), among other titles.
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert (October 2008). "Raphael Saadiq: The Way I See It". Blender. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
- ^ Spera, Keith (January 22, 2020). "Contemporary R&B and soul hitmaker Raphael Saadiq brings his 'Jimmy Lee' tour to town". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
- ^ Cochrane, Naima (March 26, 2020). "2000: A Soul Odyssey". Billboard. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
- ^ Hicks, Dylan (February 20, 2020). "From Tony Toni Toné' through 'Jimmy Lee,' Raphael Saadiq has crafted a unique career". City Pages. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
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