Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Raphael Saadiq has been on the music scene for much of his life. The now 51-year-old toured with the late-great Prince in his late teens, started the hit-making trio Toni, Tony, Tone’ at the age of 21 and has produced hits for TLC, Mary J. Blige, D’Angelo, John Legend, just to name a few. Not to mention, he was the music producer over the critically-acclaimed Netflix series, Luke Cage. Plus, remember “Cranes In The Sky” by Solange Knowles? It recently won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance. It was produced by Saadiq too. But looking at Raphael’s childhood, you would think he would have went down a different path.
Saadiq was born in Oakland, California, the second-youngest of 14 siblings and half-siblings. His early life was marked by tragedy; he experienced the deaths of several of his siblings as a young child. When Saadiq was seven years old, his brother was murdered. One of his brothers overdosed on heroin and another committed suicide because he was unable to deal with his addiction to the drug. His sister died as a result of a car crash during a police chase in a residential neighborhood.
“Music can shape you in many ways. I know firsthand,” explains Saadiq. “I’ve lost three brothers and a sister. My sister was hit by a car. A guy was running from a cop and the cop chased the kid into my sister’s car. She got permanent brain damage and we had to unplug her from the machine — actually, when I was recording that song, ‘It Never Rains In Southern California.’ So I still had to go back and make that record and I never really talked about it until years later. The only reason I spoke about it at that point was just to show people [that] you don’t have to be mad and put it in your records. Now, if you look back, you can feel me in these records. You can feel how it shaped me. You can hear the soul, you can hear the gut. You come see me at a show and you can feel all that stuff that I carry.”
Saadiq states that he does not want his music to be reflective of the tragedies he experienced, saying that “And through all of that I was making records, but it wasn’t coming out in the music. I did it to kinda show people you can have some real tough things happen in your life, but you don’t have to wear it on your sleeve.”
Now Raphael’s life is all about positive vibes and creating a positive daily routine. Here’s some of Raphael’s outward routines to keep him looking healthy.
Skin Care
“I use a lot of coconut oil on my skin. And I like to have some type of natural deodorant. I’m using the Arm & Hammer baking soda one right now, but it’s the natural one. There are different kinds.”
In the shower, I like to use this line called…
…Epicuren. I’ll use the shower gel and the facial gel. There’s another place in Berkeley where I’ll pick up the Grateful Body cleanser. It’s all natural. If I have that option to buy something that’s good and all natural, it’s something I like to do. Also, because I travel a lot, I don’t get a lot of downtime, so I need to make sure I have a good cleanser. You don’t want to use the hotel soap. At least, I don’t like to.
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Fitness
“When I’m really in it, and this is not every day but when I’m really focused, I get up at 5:30 a.m. and I run three miles just about every other day. I try to lift light weights as well. I come home, take a shower, sit and meditate for 30 minutes, and then I come to the studio and I plan the rest of the day. I’ve been running probably most of my life, and I try to stick to the same thing when I travel. I research where the good places are to eat at, and I try to go find the places to go run. I’ve also worked out with a trainer sometimes.”
“One of my trainers now is Stan McQuay, a bodybuilder and a pretty famous one. I used to go see Johnny Alves, a.k.a. Johnny Drama — the real one, not the one on “Entourage.” He’s a trainer who used to be in L.A. but lives in Boston now. I met him through a girl, and he later became a really good friend. He really got me into plyometrics. I also was doing Bikram yoga and other types of yoga, but I stopped all that. Now I just run and stretch.”
On Knowing Your Worth
After returning to Oakland from touring with Prince, Saadiq began his professional career as the lead vocalist and bassist in the rhythm and blues and dance trio Tony! Toni! Toné! He used the name Raphael Wiggins while in Tony! Toni! Toné!, along with his brother Dwayne Wiggins, and his cousin Timothy Christian. In the mid-1990s, he adopted the last name Saadiq, which means “man of his word” in Arabic. He later confessed that he did not convert to the muslim religion, but to “have his own identity” he says everyone needs that.
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