Jalen Rose talks fame, Oakland music scene with Raphael Saadiq
nypost.comGrammy winner Raphael Saadiq.The prodigy bass player and vocalist has been a driving force behind the many smash records of Whitney Houston, Mary J.
Blige, Beyoncé and Stevie Wonder, to name a few. He’s also revived his beloved Tony! Toni! Toné! trio with his brother D’Wayne Wiggins and Timothy Christian Riley for a tour.
They’ll be at Radio City on Sept. 30.Raphael became quite sentimental on this week’s “Renaissance Man,” reflecting on his journey toward stardom, one that began when he started playing bass as a 6-year-old.
Sporting an Oakland Raiders jersey, what he told me was also a vocal love letter to his hometown of Oakland, California – it’s a musical city that made this R&B super talent what he is now.“Every block had a garage with bands in it, [talented] people who play with Natalie Cole … I tell people all day, I’m lucky that I made it,” Raphael told me. “The bar was so high.”It was those “Oakland legends” who inspired the young bassist to not only pursue all aspects of melody, but to fall in love with them as well.“I was trying to work in a record store just so I could be around music.
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