Booking Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq Biography

The American songwriter, guitarist, and producer Raphael Saadiq was born Charles Ray Wiggins in 1966 in Oakland, California. Before Saadiq rose to fame initially as a member of the group Tony! Toni! Tone!, he suffered a tumultuous childhood, filled with loss. Raphael lost four siblings before he was a teenager, all under tragic circumstances.

Finding solace in his music, Raphael Saadiq began learning first to play the guitar and then mastering vocals, and by the time he was eighteen, he’d garnered a gig touring with Prince as part of his back-up band. After the tour concluded, Saadiq established Tony! Toni! Tone!, which went on to become one of the 1980’s and 1990’s most significant R&B groups. After the band dissolved in 1997, Raphael shifted his attention to a solo career, at first collaborating with a number of other artists, including D’Angelo, with whom he earned a Grammy Award for the song “Untitled (How Does It Feel.)”

From there, Raphael Saadiq released the solo album Instant Vintage in 2002, followed by Ray Ray (2004), The Way I See It (2008), and Stone Rollin’ (2011.) The albums gave audiences the singles: “Love That Girl,” “I Want You Back” (with Teedra Moses), “Never Give You Up” (with Stevie Wonder), “Staying in Love,” “Good Man,” and “Movin’ Down the Line.” Saadiq’s work earned him multiple Grammy Award nominations, with one win, for “Love of My Life,” in 2003.

To date, Raphael Saadiq is known best for the album The Way I See It, which features a star-studded line up of collaborators, including Joss Stone, Jay-Z, and Stevie Wonder. Saadiq continues to perform and record, with plans for another album release and future projects on the horizon.