Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq never needed to append the title “throwback soul” to his music. He lives, eats, and breathes the R&B continuum, having kicked off his career as the lead singer and bassist of New Jack Swing kings Tony! Toni! Toné!, and gone on to helm supergroup Lucy Pearl with members of En Vogue and A Tribe Called Quest. No matter what company he keeps, Saadiq always stands out, and his new album, Stone Rollin’, finds him applying that impossibly smooth voice to grittier territory, gainfully reclaiming rock ’n’ roll in the name of its forefathers.

Updated 04/25/2011