Billboard In Conversation

R&B legends Tony! Toni! Toné! sat down with Gail Mitchell, Billboard‘s Executive Director of Hip-Hop and R&B, to talk about their hit track “Anniversary,” their upcoming reunion tour, how their name came about and more!

Gail Mitchell:I’m sitting here talking to three gentlemen that oh my god, and everybody was so excited when they found out you guys were reuniting for this tour. But I’m here with Tony! Toni! Toné! I’m with Tim Riley, I’m with D’Wayne Wiggins and Raphael Saadiq. Thank you all for joining us!

Raphael Saadiq:Thank you, Gail!

D’Wayne Wiggins:Happy to be here!

Gail Mitchell:Looking back over ya’ll’s career as Tony! Toni! Toné!, what is it about your music — the group’s music — that still resonates some 30 years later?

Raphael Saadiq:I think it’s just a lot of nostalgic memories of people having kids to the music and meeting us. And you know, when bands are going to different cities and going to one-stops and visiting schools, you know, just doing the work in the community. You know, we didn’t just put out a record and it was on the radio and we didn’t go to that market. We would stay in that market for, like, three or four days, so we met a lot of people and have a lot of friends. People probably want to bring their kids to see it, or use the shows to see these three guys, and I think they get the opportunity now to see us all together like this is pretty, pretty good.

D’Wayne Wiggins:I guess you’d call it like the soundtrack to a lot of people’s lives, and definitely was for us because we just learned how to write, you know, and so it was all genuine and very real. I guess getting back to that, so that’s the beautiful thing about it. After 25 years, the three of us together, it’s getting back to the real roots.

Watch the full interview above!