Q&A: Tony! Toni! Tone! will bring the funk

Omaha, get ready. Tony! Toni! Toné! plans to roll out the funk.

The old-school R&B act will perform its 1990s feel-good hits Saturday at Slowdown, 729 N. 14th St.

Some of the group's Billboard hits include “Feels Good,” “Blues,” “It Never Rains in Southern California” and “Anniversary.”

We spoke with D'wayne Wiggins of the group while his flight to Omaha was delayed in Phoenix. Here's what he had to say about the band:

Q. How'd you come up with Tony! Toni! Toné! as a name?

A. That was nothing more than a nickname. We had this friend who used to think he looked so fly we'd called him “Tony.” We kept it going, and say “I'm looking real Tony right now.” It just caught on as a group and we became Tony! Toni! Toné!

Q. So is this an official tour that you're starting up?

A. Nah, it's not a tour but we do dates all the time. When this one came along I was like “Aww, I haven't been to Omaha in I can't even remember.” This will be almost like going out of the country to me.

Q. Tell me a little bit about New Jack Swing.

A. We never really thought of ourselves as a New Jack Swing group. We always considered ourselves blues. We even had a song called “Blues.” As a Tony I don't know I guess we just feel like the urban version of Rolling Stone. It's cool how (industry people) have given our style a new name “Neo-Soul.” That's clean. It's just real soul and real blues with a hip-hop twist.

Q. Do you think fans get weirded out when you perform without Raphael Saadiq?

A. He's still there. It's something you can never get away from. We're still doing a lot of things together. The person who is singing lead is another cousin (Amar Khalil). Our family is so rooted into music that it never changes. Amar and Raphael used to play together in another band. So when he stepped in, it was just natural. It's like he was always there singing and dancing and creating.

Q. In 1996, you dropped your last album. What have you done since?

A. We've been producing. A lot of people don't know that we've been developing and signing artists. We helped groom and develop Destiny's Child. We signed that in ‘95 and it came to light in ‘97. Keyshia Cole is another one. We finally won a grammy with Alicia Keys' “Diary” album. I guess when people ask what we've been doing... we've been doing what we've always been doing. We produce and jam.

Q. You talk about how deep your family is into music. But where did that start?

A. Growing up in Oakland, California, we'd go to the grocery store and see Sly Stone or Larry Graham from Graham Central Station. They'd be walking through the store in big afros and silver boots. My father was a blues guitarist and when we were younger he would take us to the park. We'd have to sit up and listen to these blues cats all night. We finally started picking up guitar... and there you go. In Oakland, man, you had bands every where like you have rappers now.

Q. So how'd you get your big break? A. It fell into place with us. We never considered ourselves a group because we all had our own groups. We'd just get together to jam. When we got the opportunity to play around Sheila E, Prince and Lionel Richie, they'd ask us about things were doing. So we'd help them out with the choreography of their show. So once we got back from tour we started our own thing and a year later we got an offer from a label.

Q. Do you have a favorite album?

A. Oh, that's hard. I like the “House of Music,” because it really reflects the evolution of us. But I'd have to say the last one “Sons of Soul.” We never really peaked, you know. Believe it or not. In our whole career, we only had four studio albums.

Q. Is there a new album in the works?

A. We have an album right now in the works. We've done some tracks with Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Jaime Foxx, Keyshia Cole and Slick Rick... I love the old hip-hop artists because they know how to perform, deliver, improvise and have a good time. So this song with Slick Rick is fly. I've always considered our music songs and not tunes. Tunes are that stuff you hear and never hear again.