Tony! Toni! Toné! is an R&B group from Oakland, California consisting of brothers D'Wayne Wiggins (lead vocals and guitar) and Charles “Charlie” Ray Wiggins (a.k.a. Raphael Saadiq on lead vocals and bass) along with their cousin Timothy Christian Riley (drums, keyboards and background vocals). Their style ranged from New Jack Swing dance tracks to ballads and blues.

The trio initially formed in 1986 and the group’s name was a joke about D'Wayne’s relaxed hair making him look like a “Tony” whose name would be called three times in an Italian accent. The nameless band performed at a wedding reception and was asked their name, they threw “Tony! Toni! Toné!” out there and it stuck. After Raphael and Tim worked with fellow Oakland native Sheila E. on her self-titled album in 1987, the Tonys released the single “One Night Stand” independently, leading to them signing a deal with Wing Records.

The Tonys released their gold debut album Who? in 1988, which was produced by Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy. The album featured the #1 R&B hit “Little Walter” and Top 5 R&B hit “Baby Doll.” Their breakthrough 1990 sophomore album, The Revival, hit platinum status as the singles “The Blues,” “Whatever You Want,” “It Never Rains (in Southern California),” and “Feels Good” all hit #1 on the Billboard R&B chart while “Feels Good” cracked the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

After releasing the hit single “Me and You” on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack and also contributing “House Party (I Don’t Know What You Come to Do” on the House Party II soundtrack in 1991, the Tonys released their third album, Sons of Soul in 1993. This album hit double platinum status thanks to the Top 10 hits “If I Had No Loot” and “Anniversary” along with the Top 5 R&B hit “(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow.” “Anniversary” reached gold status and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best R&B Song categories in 1994. The last album from the Tonys was 1996’s House of Music featuring the Top 5 R&B hits “Let’s Get Down” with DJ Quik and “Thinking of You.”

Raphael Saadiq went on to become a solo artist, an in-demand songwriter and producer, music supervisor and Grammy Award winner who has worked with artists such as D'Angelo, TLC, A Tribe Called Quest, Whitney Houston, Earth, Wind & Fire, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, Beyoncé and Solange among others. D'Wayne Wiggins has worked with Destiny’s Child, Keyshia Cole, Jamie Foxx, Jody Watley, Too $hort, and Ludacris among others. Timothy Christian Riley has produced and provided instrumentation on a number of projects, including working with D'Wayne Wiggins on the 2004 Alicia Keys single “Diary.” The group continued to perform but with Amar Khalil singing lead in place of Raphael Saadiq.