Anthony Hamilton and Tony Toni Tone

Anthony Hamilton’s music career has its beginnings in the gospel choir at church he used to sing in since he was 10 years old. Having signed with label Uptown Recordsin 1993, Hamilton moved to New York to pursue music. He was a backup singer on tour for artist D’Angelo’s album “Voodoo” and subsequently collaborated with southern rap group Nappy Roots on albums “Watermelon, Chicken, and Grits,” “Wooden Leather,” and “The Humdinger.” The collaboration on single “Po’ Folks” won them a Grammy nomination for “Best Rap/Sung Collaboration” in 2003.

Hamilton signed with label So So Def Imprint by Jermaine Dupri and came out with an independent album called “Comin’ From Where I’m From” in 2003. The album went platinum and features the single “Charlene.” His sophomore album, entitled “Ain’t Nobody Worryin” was released in 2005 with successful single “Can’t Let Go” and the album became certified gold.

Hamilton has collaborated with numerous R&B artists, even snagging a duet for "Buon Natale" with Nat King Cole on his holiday album. In 2007, Hamilton had a cameo role as a singer in the film “American Gangster” and also contributed to the soundtrack. He sang “Freedom” with Elayna Boynton on the soundtrack for Quentin Tarantino film “Django Unchained” in 2012.

The band made their debut in 1988, releasing “Who?” on the label, Wing, making a big splash in the charts. The album spawned the hit singles, “Little Walter,” “Born Not To Know,” “For the Love of You” and “Baby Doll,” all top ten R&B singles. The album itself peaked at number 69 in the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold thereafter.

Success was set to continue for the band, with their sophomore release, “The Revival” in 1990 reaching Platinum certification, spawning several number one hits in the R&B charts. “It Never Rains in Southern California,” “Feels Good,” “The Blues” and “Whatever You Want” all reached the top spot, with “Feels Good” also breaking into the mainstream chart’s top ten.

With no sign of slowing down, Tony! Toni! Toné! had created a double-Platinum selling album with 1993’s “Sons of Soul,” featuring three hit singles that broke into the Billboard Hot 100 top ten. Their fourth album arrived in 1996, “House of Music,” which whilst it did not provide any particularly strong singles, it still reached Platinum certification and reached the number ten spot in the R&B charts.

Following their fourth release, the members embarked on several solo endeavours, with Raphael Saadiq achieving some success both as a solo artist and as a record producer, creating hits for D’Angelo, The Roots amongst others. D’wayne Wiggins also embarked on a solo career and became the band leader for Comedy Central’s weekly show, “Weekends at the D.L.”

In 2003, the members of Tony! Toni! Toné! were invited to appear on Alicia Keys’ album, “The Diary of Alicia Keys,” prompting a reunion of sorts which has seen them perform intermittently ever since. The lineup originally consisted of brothers Dwayne Wiggins (lead vocals/guitar), Raphael Saadiq (born Charles Ray Wiggins, lead vocals/bass) and cousin Timothy Christian Riley (drums//keyboards), although Amar Khalil took over lead vocal duties in 1998.