Raphael Saadiq calls Oscar nomination a ‘huge milestone’

ATLANTA (AP) — If Raphael Saadiq had a choice, he would rather be heard than seen.

But Saadiq’s behindthe-scenes musical work has thrust him into the limelight once again. The musician earned an Academy Award nomination for his co-writing efforts on Mary J. Blige’s “Mighty River,” an original song from the Netflix film “Mudbound.”

Saadiq called the Oscar nod for best original song a “huge milestone” in his career, but he is trying to stay even keel. When he first heard the news of the nomination through a friend’s text message, he just smiled.

“I’ve always worked diligently no matter what,” he said in a recent interview. “I’ve always worked to the highest standards no matter who I am working for. I like to be behind the scenes instead of out front, but this just means to me that the quality of work I have embarked upon speaks to the testament of who I am as a musician, composer and a person who works with a lot of people.”

For years, Saadiq has been creating songs as a solo artist and for many other music artists including Justin Timberlake, John Legend, D’Angelo, Kenny G, Snoop Dogg and Erykah Badu. He made his debut in the late 1980s as the lead singer of R&B group Tony! Toni! Tone!, which had hits like “Feels Good” and “It Never Rains (in Southern California),” among others. He left the group in 1996 and went on to win a Grammy for best R&B song for his work on Erykah Badu’s “Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip-Hop).”