p Ie 1 MICHIGA CITIZE
E .. ntertainment
anu ry 6·12, 1991
, ,
Sh uld the gold-certified
success of the debut Tony!
.Toni l Tone! album have left
any doubts that a major new
p,op/R&B fo ce has 'arrived
on the scene just in time for
the new decade, The Revival,
the second album from the
Oakland, CA funkmaster
has cleared them.
Dwayne Wiggin, Raphael
Wiggins and Tim Christian­
t he core of Tofiy! Toni!
Tone !-have emerged as a
s igni ficant force a
mus icra ns , producer,
songwriters and consummate
performer. And with the
success of such smash
singles as the #1 R&B hi t,' .
"The Blues, " the top ten pop­
crossover smash, "Feel
Good" and their newest hit,
''It Never Rains- (In Southern
California)," the Tonys arc
po-ised on the brink of super­
stardom .
. Largely written, arranged
and performed by the Tonys,
The Rev iv al - fourteen
songs and some 65 minute
long-is, Afrocentrically
speaking, remarkably 'broad
and deep. It ranges from pul­
verizing, Bootsy-styled funk
like "AII The Way" and 'Th�
Blues" (the album' fir I
single),·to cool an d exy
Earth, Wind & Firc-s ty lcd
, ballads like "What 1'cr You
. Wan/" and "It Nell r Rains
(In South rn 'alifornia)," to
.radio-readypop song lik
. "Jo Jo" -:- a mcssauc song
. about teen runawa.,y .
The Revi 1 I an album
tha ets a pass-thcpcas chant
out of the, JB, over' a
ba line, out of the Pinter
Sist r '''}', "" Can an"
(on "Let', Have A Good
time"), which ample Tower
of Power. Public Enemy"
Flavor Flav, Richard Pryor.
Eazy E and Tommy Dor ey
on single cut F'Oakland
Stroke"). and which sets ,it.
two lead .ingcrs into a d ep
" voice/high voice calland­
re ponse worthy of Sly Stone
and Larry Graham ("The
Blue It).
, II
,
•
VIV
TQNY� TONI! TON":! -,Oakland' three fresh funkma ters, kicked orrtbe fir t leg oftbeir 1990-91 U .. tour.with
appearances beginning in Richmond, VA an ending in Merrillville, IN. Three 'T' will perform' at th� Masonic.
. emple in Detroit, MI January 5. (l-r) Ti�othy Chri stian, Dwayne Wiggin & Rapbael Wiggins.' -
FamiJ y gospel ingers ... and·
the former headquarters of
Sly & The Family Stone,
Tow c r of Power and, t'he
Pornlcr Sisters.
A� Michael E. Ross writ­
ing In the New York Times
noted : "A cify of 356,000
that has bee'\. viewed asa cul�
t u r a l s c co nlf- ur ing player
b c s id e an Franci co, its
sister to the west, Oakland i
em .rging anew, In. the par­
JaIH:� of the music. Oakland
�
IS In c lfcct."
Dwayne' a .es: ment is a
l i u lc more down to earth: '
"Oakland i Hard Times Cit .
You can't half- te p here.
Whatever you do, you have
to be good at it." family
affair, Tony! Toni! Tone! i
compri cd of Raphael "Ray"
Wiggin. lead vocal . ba s:
his brother Dwayne Wig ins.
lead vocal'. guitar; and
Timothy Christian. drums.
Growing up in Oakland.
the guy, played all kinds of
gig: rock and soul and jazz.
Saturday night blowout and
Sunday morning crviccs.
By the time they got out of
high chool, the Tony were
accompli 'het) i ns t rumc n­
tali t . Their fir t big break
wa a gig a' the b ckup band
or fcllow 0 kland n iive ,
Sheil E. At the time (sum-
mer of 1985), . heila wa get­
ting ready to tour behind the
huge success o f "The
Glamorous Lilc' and "A L01'c
lJ izurre. " •
'II F�' I) () LY been look­
ing for a ha�:-'I'I hut. bowled
over by Ray, Tim and CARL,
he decided t.o bi te the bullet •
fire her whole band. and hire
the Tonys.: The guys ended
up touring with Sheila when
he opened for Lionel Richie
in America and Prin e in
Japan.
Eventually. Prince trrcd to
recruit thc Tonys for lus own
band. an invitation the guys
reluctantly declined. A, they
put it on "Born NOI To KII1Jlv"
- Thing may be gctu n '
crazy. but we ain't wcarin '
p i ley.
When it came ti me to cut
their first album. the Tony
once again turned to Oakland
native, their old friend
Denzil Foster and Thomas
McElroy. The ere tive force
in Club Nouveau, Foster and
McElroy were just then com­
ing off the Club' tri ng of
rna h hit in 1987. including
"Jealousy," "Situation #9,"
"L an On Me, " and "Why YOII
Treat Me So Bad." The y
contributed three o ngs to
The Re» ral: "Don " Talk
cha
AboUI ftI.e," "Let's Have A
Good Time," and "Skin
Tight, " ,
Tony! Toni! Tone! toured
arenas 'and 's t a d i u m s
throughout the summer of
1988 clean 10.tO 1989 as part
otthc Bud Superfest. A the
.months went by, they.� per-
formed with nearly every big
name in onicmporary R&B:
Bobby Brown. Guy. New
Edition. Kid 'n ' Play. all 'n'
Pc p a , Heavy D Levert.
Stephanie Mill'. Peabo
Bryson, The Whisper '.
Karyn White and Patti
Labelle. By the summer of
19S9. the Tonys we re cuui ng
virtually everybody else on
the hil].
"Bands like New Edition
and Guy arc better known."
rotc penni' Hunt in the
Los An rclcs Time '. "But the
Tonys arc better at the dance­
able high-tech funk that" in
vogue now."
TIl"Y ERE AL '0 bet­
ter at'the wearing of fly
threads. a pr dilection which
ha e 'taol'. hed the Tony as
fa shion trend-setters. After
all. they r not called Tony!
Toni! Tone! for nothin "
Th y swe r th t followin
til ir appe ranee on Ar erno.
the Ton ht Eddie Mur-
phy weari ng the exact outfit
the�'d worn on the .how ... al­
though omeone .o mchow
neglected to t c l l Ed th'C\t
.pcnny loafers were not the
kicks of choice that year.
-On the o rhc r hand. Ar-
enio himself showed u in a
ma gaz in e . prc a d wearing
Tony -stylcd clothes. a per­
formance grudging! y sal ute d
by Dwayne, "I must admit
Arsenio did look good." he
say', The To ny s also take
credit for pioneering pika
dOL well in advance of Dc La
Soul arid Kw a m e . To d a y.
having gone through a relet­
tively severe b Iac k -a nd­
whi rc phase, the Ton's have
c ha ng c d up again. Sa y s
Dwayne: "Now we're wear­
ing 'orne colors that hit, ou
'bout a mile away."
On a more eriou tip, the
oulfulne . of The Revival
should hit the dedicated
mu ic lover' from about a
mile away. too. And
Dwayne. coming from Oak­
land, know just :.vhat the
Tonys ' success mean to hi
homeboy , "It' given the
younger generation a ign
th t they can 0 out and
make good money without
doing b d thing s." he y.
"We nand a omethin a a
role model."
•
TilE TONY , rootsine s
and their funk come to them
_'._ ' naturally. All three of the
pri ncipals are n tive of Oak­
land, California: the current
home of Digital' Under­
ground. Me Hammer, Oak­
town 357, Too Short, Sheila
E .. Frankie Beverly and
Maze. 'and the Hawkin