RAPHAEL SAADIQ

RAPHAEL SAADIQ - unique yet new SOUL MUSIC

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Not many producers and song writers blow me away these days maybe not many ever did. Yet I am partial to a bit of RAPHAEL SAADIQ the man has grown with every release and production he has worked on (born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) he started his career singing in the rnb group TONY!TONI!TONE! Along with DWAYNE WIGGINS his brother and cousin Timothy Christian,giving us hits such as IT NEVER RAINS IN SOTHERN CALIFORNIA, ANNIVERSARY, LITTLE WALTER and THINKING OF YOU .After being in the band from the mid 80,s onwards , in 1995 he would release the hit song ASK OF YOU for the higher learning soundtrack it would take until 2002 until finally he released his own album Instant Vintage. In the meantime this musical man was scoring hits with the likes of D`ANGELO and THE ROOTS. In 1999 RAPHEAL along with D`ANGELO came up with the idea of a group by the name of LUCY PEARL later on D`ANGELO would back out due to scheduling conflicts RAPHAEL would b

e joined by DAWN ROBINSON ex ENVOGUE and ALI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD of the tribe called quest the album LUCY PEARL is still a personal favourite of mine to this day and still gets lots of play around the house. I was so looking forward to more music yet sadly this seemed to be a one off. In 2002 whilst holidaying in Florida I walked into a record shop and heard the song RIFLE LOVE playing instantly I knew it was RHAPEAL SAADIQ without listening to anything else, that along with a large collection of CD`S went into my bag .I WANT YOU BACK feat TEEDRA MOSES is another killer song on the set. since then he has worked with so many other acts who want to enlist his talents and as a bass player I truly feel this gives him an edge over other new producers who don’t have that instrumental grounded quality that is able to transform beats and add melody in a way producer who just come with the beats just can’t quite grasp as good, being a musician allows for this .Artist such as WHITNEY HOUSTON ,JOSS STONE,MARY J BLIGE,CHANTE MOORE, BABYFACE,EARTH WIND AND FIRE and STEVIE WONDER have all lined up to get this man’s services. After a few more album releas

es in 2008 he came up with the album THE WAY I SEE IT at a time when most soulmsuic artist and rnb were starting to sound more pop than soul music RAPHAEL SAADIQ was looking back and getting a new lease of life it showed that he wasn’t chasing the fashion he was his own man when it came to creating music the album proved to be a hit despite not sounding like anything else out there.

“I don’t have an answer how this album came about. It’s kind of spooky. All I know is that I was starting it and then turned around and it was done! Even with Tony Toni Tone there were elements that felt like that on certain songs but not the whole record.”

In 2009 he worked with one of my favourite artist today LEDISI and both came up with PLEASE STAY a little gem of a song. Rapheal Saadiq is unique and its the main reason he has been in the game for so long yet his roots are firmly fixed in soul music he pushes the bounderies yet only for the sake of music not for the dollar and this has always been the case with this man .Their doesnt appear to have been a plan other than to make music he loves and in turn hope we like it to. Raphael WE LUV IT!