D’Wayne Wiggins, Co-Founding Member of Tony! Toni! Toné!, Dead at 64
D’Wayne Wiggins, a founding member of beloved 1990s R&B trio Tony! Toni! Toné!, died on Friday (March 7) at age 64, his family and the group announced.
“With broken hearts, we share with you that our beloved D’Wayne passed away this morning surrounded by family and loved ones,” the group shared in an Instagram post. “Over the past year, he has been privately and courageously battling bladder cancer. Through this fight, he remained committed and present for his family, his music, his fans and his community.”
The news comes just two days after the group shared on social media that Wiggins, who was the lead singer/guitarist had been battling a health issue. “We wanted to share that D’Wayne Wiggins is experiencing medical complications. He is working through it one day at a time,” Tony! Toni! Toné wrote March 5 on Instagram.
Wiggins is the co-founder of the 1980s/90s soul funk/R&B trio that also featured his half-brother, Raphael Saadiq, on bass and vocals and cousin Timothy Christian Riley on drums/keyboards. The band was formed in their native Oakland, Calif., in 1986, releasing debut single “One Night Stand” a year later.
After signing with Wing Records, the group released their debut album, Who?, in 1988, which featured the hit single, “Little Walter,” a prime example of the band’s signature mixture of funk, soul, R&B and gospel that rode the wave of the mid-1980s New Jack Swing revolution spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and groups including Guy, Blackstreet and Keith Sweat. The song peaked at No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while the album hit No. 69 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
The band’s second, mostly self-produced studio album, The Revival, was released in 1990 (No. 34 on the Billboard 200) and it featured their signature feel good dance funk anthem “Feels Good,” which hit No. 9 on the Hot 100 singles chart. They followed with 1993’s classic R&B-leaning Sons of Soul LP — which contained their highest charting single, the Ice Cube-sampling New Jack Swinging classic “If I Had No Loot.” That song ran up to No. 7 on the Hot 100, with the album hitting their highest mark on the Billboard 200 at No. 24.
Their final studio effort was 1996’s House of Music, which hit No. 32 on the Billboard 200 chart. In total, the group landed five chart-toppers on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hops songs charts, as well as seven other songs in the top 10 on that tally.
The group went quiet for several years before reuniting in 2003 — without Saadiq — to appear on Grammy-nominated The Diary of Alicia Keys song “Diary” (No. 8 on the Hot 100) and then again in 2023 for a U.S. reunion tour to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Sons of Soul.
In addition to his work with the group D’Wayne Wiggins was the bandleader for comedian D.L. Hughley’s short-lived Comedy Central series Weekends at the D.L. He also released a solo album, Eyes Never Lie, in 2000, which charted at No. 197 on the Billboard 200 album chart, with single “What’s Really Going On (Strange Fruit)” hitting No. 84 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart that year.
Wiggins is also credited with helping to develop and shape the early career of Destiny’s Child, who recorded several tracks produced by him before they signed with Columbia Records, as well as being one of the major promoters of Oakland’s grimy, relentless late ’90s “hyphy” hip-hop offshoot thanks to his vocal work on fellow East Bay native Too $hort’s 1992 singles “Hoochie” and 1999’s “How Does It Feel.” He also lent his elegant guitar playing to “BabyLet’sHaveABabyBeforeBushDoSomethin’Crazy” from another East Bay group, The Coup, on their 2006 Pick a Bigger Weapon album.
Read the announcement of Wiggins’ passing below:
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
