D’Wayne Wiggins, founding member of Tony! Toni! Toné!, dies after private cancer battle

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D’Wayne Wiggins, a renowned musician and co-founder of the soul and R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné!, passed away following a quiet struggle with cancer at the age of 64.

On Friday morning, it was reported that Wiggins passed away, encompassed by his family members and cherished ones. This information was conveyed in a statement shared on both the musician’s personal and band’s Instagram accounts. Throughout his battle with cancer over the past year, Wiggins continued to be dedicated and present for his loved ones, his music, his fans, and his community.

After Tony! Toni! Toné! and Wiggins’ family publicly shared information about his health on Wednesday, he sadly passed away. Earlier, they had posted on Instagram that the singer was dealing with medical complications without providing further details. At that time, they mentioned that Wiggins was taking things one day at a time as he worked through his condition.

Originally scheduled to perform on March 22 at the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts in Tracy, California, Tony! Toni! Toné! unfortunately had to call off the show because of an illness within the group.

Music

In the 1990s, the artist gained fame by being a key figure in the revival of soul music, alongside artists like D’Angelo and Erykah Badu.

Born on Valentine’s Day, 1961, Wiggins hails from Oakland and was one of the founding members of the band Tony! Toni! Toné! Known for their smooth R&B tunes like “Anniversary” and “It Never Rains (in Southern California),” he started the group in 1986 alongside his half-brother, Charles Ray Wiggins (also known as Raphael Saadiq), and cousin Timothy Christian Riley. The band, which emerged from casual jam sessions, gained significant popularity during the late ’80s to mid-1990s, but its influence can be heard in the music of contemporary R&B and hip-hop artists such as Alicia Keys, Freddie Gibbs, and Tinashe.

In 1997, Saadiq shared with The Times that D’wayne had been his childhood hero. To him, D’wayne embodied everything. In Oakland, he was part of the coolest band and one of the best guitar players on the music scene. Simply put, he was a legend.

In their younger years, before the emergence of Tony! Toni! Toné!, Wiggins and Saadiq’s days were saturated with the melodies of soul and gospel tunes, along with the distinctive sounds that the Bay Area was known for.

In the past, just as each block is filled with ten rappers today, there used to be ten bands on every block, as Wiggins shared with The Times in 1997.

Apart from talent contests and multiple band competitions, this family trio initially made their mark in music by performing at church and accompanying Oakland’s renowned musical ensemble, the Castleers, from Castlemont High School, on tours.

In 1986, the members who would eventually form Tony! Toni! Toné! recognized they could achieve success as a separate group. However, you might wonder why they chose this name. The name was actually an amusing reference among them for someone fashionable, and it carried a subtle influence from actor Andy Garcia’s role in “The Untouchables.

Music

The members of Tony! Toni! Toné! continue to enjoy making music as a group, yet founding member Raphael Saadiq is considering branching out into new ventures to avoid insincerity or pretentiousness.

In 1988, the three-piece band called Tony! Toni! Toné! put out their initial album titled “Who?” which included popular songs such as “Little Walter” and “Born Not to Know”. Over subsequent years, they released four more albums, including their second album “The Revival”, which contained hits like “Feels Good” and “It Never Rains (In Southern California)”. Their third album, “Sons of Soul”, was issued in 1993. The penultimate song from this album, titled “Anniversary”, earned Tony! Toni! Toné! their first Grammy nomination and established the group as a significant part of modern R&B music.

1996 saw the release of their last album together, “House of Music,” signifying the end of the original phase for the trio. After this point, each member embarked on a solo journey, disbanding the group. Notably, one member, Wiggins, established Grass Roots Entertainment in West Oakland and at some stage signed Destiny’s Child. Additionally, through his studio in Oakland, Wiggins played a significant role in nurturing the careers of artists such as Keys, Keyshia Cole, and Jamie Foxx.

In 2003, Tony! Toni! Toné! teamed up with Alicia Keys for her album “The Diary of Alicia Keys.” Their collaboration on the song “Diary” received a nomination at the 47th Grammy Awards.

Back in the day, after treading our separate paths for quite some time, my cherished bandmates and I from Tony! Toni! Toné! made the exciting announcement in 2023 that we’d be reuniting for our first tour in a quarter of a century. In an interview with Billboard the same year, Raphael Wiggins shared that the music we created together served as the soundtrack to countless lives.

In my humble opinion as a film critic, it’s undeniable that Wiggins and his kin-turned-partners share an extraordinary bond. As he put it back in 1997 to The Times, “The world of business and family life may come with their fair share of troubles, but when we collaborate, the creative energy simply ignites.

Music

84-year-old Roy Ayers, known for his jazz-soul vibraphone playing and leadership, and famous for ‘Everybody Loves the Sunshine,’ a song that served as inspiration for many young musicians, has passed away.

On Friday, Wiggins’ relatives shared that the artist wasn’t just a musician, but also a “producer, composer, benefactor, guide” with a deep-seated dedication to nurturing and boosting emerging talent.

Currently, we kindly request that you honor our need for solace, as expressed by choosing to respect our privacy. Simultaneously, we share in your grief and are profoundly moved by the outpouring of affection and encouragement you’ve shown us.

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2025-03-08 01:31