"Well, I don't think with blues I could get around it. It was in my house since I can remember, you know. My mother's from Monroe, Louisiana. My dad is from somewhere in Texas. And between the both of them, it was a lot of blues in the house. I had a stepdad, too, who was even more into blues. So I couldn't get away from it. And I loved it from the first time I heard it."
"First time I heard "The Thrill Is Gone" by B.B. King, it just made the house light up. You can see your mom walking around. You can smell the food and your sister walking around the house. People cleaning up. And B.B. King is in the back. It seemed like we had the happiest house in the world. So I'm hooked after that."
"I never wanted to sing. I never wanted to be that guy, which led me to be a journeyman."
Raphael Saadiq's nomination for "I Lied To You" at the 98th Academy Awards marks the first pure blues number nominated for Best Original Song. Saadiq grew up immersed in blues through his Louisiana-born mother and Texas-born father, developing an early connection to the genre. His childhood home resonated with blues music, particularly B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone," which created vivid sensory memories of family gatherings. Despite his deep blues lineage, Saadiq initially resisted being a frontman, preferring work as a journeyman musician. His path included leading Tony! Toni! Tonè! in the 1990s before eventually embracing his blues heritage more directly in his solo work.
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