LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It’s been 25 years in the making, a reunion tour for the unbelievably talented group of Tony! Toni! Tone’!.
They took a hiatus to work on their own passion projects.
The platinum selling group, consisting of Timothy Christian Riley, Raphael Saadiq, and D'Wayne Wiggins, stopped by the WHAS-TV studios to see to discuss the tour.
“Everybody is coming out and it's been an experience and showing the love. Talking about having followers -- we are following the followers on this tour," Wiggins said.
The concert will be a trip down memory lane. Their thumbprint is everlasting on hits like "Whatever You Want", "It Never Rains in Southern California" to "Feels Good". The group says it is music you music you can sing along to.
Saadiq explains why that’s so important.
“That's why we made those songs. I think the best songs are sing-alongs. I heard Lionel Richie say you don't want to fake people out. You want people to sang once, twice and everybody else sings three times a lady. So, we follow the trend of people. Like Mr. Richie we try and make songs that you can actually sing-along.”
Saadiq goes on to say, “We sing simple songs. Sometimes I forget some of the words and the audience picks it up for me.”
I asked what's the first thing that comes to mind when they think of Louisville. They all said that the same time with no hesitation "Muhammad Ali".
Saadiq and Wiggins added the reasoning behind saying Ali. They said, “The quickest jab, the political force. Just a great leader for the people -- the world.”
Today, they work with artists like Beyoncé, John Legend, Mary J Blige and Alicia Keys, but it’s all about them tonight and what they call 'friends' and they invite you to come and party with them.
“Tonight come out I don't even want to call it a concert. I'm calling it a party. It's a celebration of grandness. Our people, our music," Wiggins said.
Saddiq said the show is going to be treat.
“So Louisville come on out. I'm telling you. I don't like to talk like this. When it comes to the group and music -- I'm really happy with what we put together for the friends," he said. For this show, It’s pretty exciting to watch what people do. I'm telling you. We put to together but what the people are doing in the audience. We couldn't put that together."
They also told me to anticipate new music but they wanted to focus on the reunion tour but they definitely plan to head back into the studio.
Raphael Saadiq Revisits Tony! Toni! Tone'! Just Me & You Tour performs tonight at the Louisville Palace and then head to Nashville, TN for their next show. To see a list of cities go to https://tonytonitone.com/
►Contact WHAS11’s Sherlene Shanklin at sshanklin@whas11.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.